Just a Black Market stroll
by Miss Bloodrose
Summary: Antonio Carriedo finally lets his two best friends drag him to a black market, and when he sees a slave auction for humans, he immediately despises the place. But when he can't help but to feel pity for one particular slave and ends up taking him home, will he end up falling for Lovino Vargas? Rated M for later chapters, Spamano.
1. A trip to the Black Market

Author's Note: Hey, so a few weeks ago I got a PM from Kaitogirl95, who asked me to do a Spamano. So I finally can start on this, even though I have two more stories to finish, that's what multi-tasking is for. So, I plan to make this at least 8-10 chapters, but don't hold me to that.

So yeah, here you guys go!

Chapter 1 A trip to the Black Market

The forever infamous Bad Touch Trio walked down the old and beaten path of the Black Market, laughing and talking up a storm. Everyone turned their heads and watched them go, almost everyone offered them a loose, "hello" or, "good day" before returning their attention to whatever they'd been doing.

Antonio Carriedo, the seemingly innocent one of the trio, walked alongside the blond Frenchman, listening to his stories, most of which involved many things I will not name. Every so often he'd speak up, or laugh his charming Spanish laugh. However today his attention was more focused on his surroundings. He'd never been to the black market himself, but Gilbert and Francis had finally convinced him to join them on their weekly routine.

True to their words, the place did reek of a smell unidentifiable, as well as something odd hung in the air that could only be described as "illegal". True to it, black markets were, indeed, completely and utterly illegal. That had been one reason Antonio had been hesitant to go, he himself had no desire to become messed up with the law. And soon enough, he soon saw exactly why they were illegal, on top of the assortment of knives, guns and torture devices being sold. Antonio looked directly ahead, and looked strait into the eyes of an auction, an auction to sell humans.

"Gilbert…" The Spaniard mumbled, looking at the line of people, "What's that?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"Huh?" Gilbert asked, looking at Antonio then following his eyes, finally seeing what his friend was, "Oh, it's an auction to sell humans, tragic isn't it?" he asked, not really caring at all and turning back to Francis, they both resumed looking through a magazine labeled "XXX".

Antonio looked at the 10 humans up on stage, each was dirty beyond belief, and a few of them appeared beaten. His eyes scanned over each of them multiple times, until his eyes finally landed on a shorter boy than the rest, and by the looks of it, he was only 15 or 16, compared to the rest who looked well into their late teens and early twenties. The boy was by far the dirtiest out of all of them, as well as the most beaten. His deep hazel hair was plastered to his face with blood, and it was clear that he had been beaten all over by the way he walked and stood. He was arguing with the guards, his almond eyes were lit with anger and terror as he yanked on the chains connecting his wrists, demanding freedom. The man whom he was pleading to in reply, slapped him forcefully, silencing him with a whimper of submission.

For some reason, Antonio's fists clenched at the sight. He took a deep breath and unfurled his fists, noticing that none of the others were even near brave enough to stand up to the old man who obviously owned them. _A brave little chico huh?_ Antonio thought, in slight admiration of the boy.

"Dude, what's up? You've been staring at the kid up there forever!" Gilbert said, stepping right in front of the Spaniard's train of thought. He sighed and shook his head, looking away of the younger boy.

"It's just a shame someone would do that…" He mumbled, glancing back up at the stage.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" The man said loudly, effectively hushing the crowd. "Today we have a very selective group of young slaves for you all!" He roared.

The crowd jeered happy responses, throwing their fists in the air. Antonio paled, hating the fact that the man used such a hasty word as "slaves" for the human beings.

One by one, the old man went through the list of slaves, walking to each one and talking quickly, telling the crowd everything they could have hoped to know. And finally, he walked up to the boy.

"And this, my friends, is my personal favorite. It is a neko, do you all know what that is?" He asked, waiting for most of the crowd to shake their head 'no.' in response, the man's hand shot up to the boy's head, yanking on a lock of his hair, no, ear? Antonio gasped as he saw indeed, two pointed cats ears sitting on top of the shaking boy's head.

"S-stop it Bastard!" he shouted, trying to take a step back but failing as the man hit him again.

"This young one is quiet feisty, however, it could easily be trained." The elder said through gritted teeth, he obviously didn't want the neko protesting on stage while everyone "ooh"ed at the boys behavior.

"L-like hell I'll be trained, you sick pervert!" He shouted, this time earning a foot coming down on his own barefoot. He yelped in pain and tried to take a step back, the chains immediately stopping him. His bit his lip and looked out over the crowd with hatred, malice and fear filling his eyes.

"His name is Lovino Vargas, 15 years old, Italian…." The man read off of a piece of paper, and once he finished he looked up, grinning wildly, "So who wants to take this little pet home?!"

Antonio had had enough, he turned away to leave, this was terrible. How could Gilbert and Francis stand this _every week_?! Turning back to them, Antonio noticed that they were in the Porn section.

"Figures…" Antonio muttered, now in a slightly foul mood.

"—a wonderful sex slave, that one 'ould." Antonio caught the last few words of an older mans sentence. He turned to face him just in time to see said man raise his hand, "50,000 for the younger one!" He cried out.

The man up on stage, who seemed content with the offer replied with, "50,000! Do I hear a 60,000?! One, two-"

"60,000!" Antonio could hardly believe himself as he cried the outrageous price out. Sure, he could afford it, his parents were millionaires, or were, before they'd died. But now it was all his.

"Antonio, what the hell are you doing?! Have you lost your mind?!" Gilbert hissed at him, finally realizing what his friend had been staring at.

"Look at him, I can't just LEAVE him. He's only 15!" Antonio proclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air in exasperation.

"70,000!" the man next to him cried out.

"This is your chance Tonio, let's just leave. Let the man have hi-" Gilbert was cut off.

"80,000!" said Spaniard cried out. Gilbert face-palmed.

The man up on stage was grinning like a manic, watching the two as they glared at each other and spat out higher and higher prices. "Looks like you'll get a good time tonight…" the man murmured to Lovino, who paled a good bit and tried to shrink back.

"100,000!" The older bidder cried out.

"110,000!" Antonio spat back at him, now determined not to lose.

"…" silence from the older bidder.

"110,000! Do I hear 120,000$?" the man on stage asked. When no one replied, he grinned and cried out, "Sold, to the man in the back!"

Antonio humped in contempt as he folded his arms across his chest in victory. The remaining bad touch trio looked at their Spaniard friend like he was nuts. "Well then…" Gilbert said slowly. "We're just…. Gonna go over to Francis's…" And with that, the Prussian and Frenchman bolted off. Antonio was hardly listening, he himself was weaving through the crowd and to the back, where he had watched the Italian and the man go.

He walked around the old and chipping stage and to the back, where each of the people were being handed off to the bidders, each of them on a leash. Tonio growled at the sight, it was repulsive that someone would even consider doing such a thing.

He finally saw the Italian and the man, he jumped and ran forward upon seeing the man's hand hit the poor boy's cheek yet again.

"Stop." Antonio commanded to the man the second he was within ear shot.

"Oh hello Mr…?" the man let his sentence hang in the air.

"Carriedo." The Spaniard replied, giving off one of his cheery smiles but watching the man's hand to make sure he didn't try to slap the boy again. The ancient looking man held out his hand.

"Acker, Jace Acker." He replied, Antonio shook the man's hand. (Jace Acker is just a random dude, he isn't really important after this.) With that simple transaction, and a check handed over to Jace, Lovino's leash was now in Tonio's hand and the two were now walking away.

The entire time Lovino kept his eyes trained on the ground, and both of his cheeks were red from being slapped. Antonio could have sworn he saw tears gleaming in the Italians eyes, though he had no idea why. They walked in silence to the Spaniards car, in which they hopped in the back seat and the driver took off. Antonio turned to face the neko, who had slunk down in his seat with his hands in his lap, his eyes were trained on his feet.

"Hola~" Antonio said cheerfully, giving off a 100 watt smile, trying desperately to be friendly.

A small jolt went through the Italians body, but he looked up. His hazel hair fell into his eyes as he glared over at him, "What?" He spat. Antonio frowned sadly at the harshness in his words but reached over with two hands towards his throat, "W-what the hell are you doing?!" Lovino demanded to know.

"Calm down, just gonna get the collar off." Antonio mumbled, his fingers found the latch. It however, refused to come undone so he scooted closer, now sitting on his knees as he bit his lip in concentration. Lovino watched him cautiously. No one had ever taken his collar off, it was a sign of being owned, so why was this dude? "Damn this thing…" He muttered, brushing Lovi's hair away from the back of his neck to get a better view of the buckle. His hand tilted Lovino's head to the side gently, earning another questioning glare from Lovino. _Why is he being so… gentle? _The Italian wondered, obediently tilting his head towards the window. "Got it—ow!" Lovino jumped at the loud noise as he watched the Spaniard yank his hand away in shock and pain.

Lovino saw his hand bleeding slightly, "Damn buckle snapped me." Antonio mumbled, holding his hand against his own shirt. The neko remained silent, his cat ears were twitching on the top of his head slightly as he watched the Spaniard try again, this time he heard the little click of the buckle. "Si!" Antonio cheered successfully as the leash and collar fell off. He threw them onto the floor of the clean car.

Lovino raised his hand to his neck, pulling his hand away a moment later to see his own blood on his hand. His eyes widened as he slapped his hand back on his neck.

"Careful," Antonio advised, pulling the neko's hand away and re-placing his own on the wound, "It looks like the collar wore at your skin a bit…" He thought aloud, keeping his warm hand held up against Lovino's neck.

"Get off of me, bastard!" Lovino yelled, mainly out of fear. Antonio shook his head.

"Hold still, you're still bleeding." He argued, "Just hold on, we're almost home." He said, feeling the car come to a slow halt. Lovino was about to cuss him out when he saw the humongous castle outside of the window. He gaped at it; it was bigger than any other he'd been in, with old brick and ivy covering the entire front and its large windows.

Antonio got out of the car, followed by Lovino. The two walked inside and the older boy quickly guided the neko into his room, where he sat him down on the bed and retrieved the first aid kit.

Antonio sat down next to the neko, who couldn't help but to flinch away. "Calm down, I won't hurt you." Antonio cooed softly, grabbing a damp cloth and tilting his head to the side again, dabbing away the blood softly. Lovino balled his fists in the sheets, ignoring the questions floating around in his head. He felt Antonio wrap bandages around his neck, then the Spaniards fingers pull down the back of his shirt so he could see what were the beginnings of long, vertical slash marks—whip marks—all over his back.

"Lovino, are those-?" he was cut off by the Italian.

"They're not, so shut the hell up!" he shouted, knowing that he'd have to take his shirt off for Antonio to help with those, and he really didn't want to do that.

"But Lovi, they may get in-"

"Just shut the hell up!" said neko shouted again, squirming away quickly from the older boy. Antonio realized he was frightening the neko, and raised his hands in defeat, then gaped at what was attached to the lower part of his back. A tail. Lovino noticed the stare and blushed, his tail wrapped tightly around his own waist in a feeble attempt to hide itself.

"That's interesting…." Antonio mused, seeing that the neko wasn't comfortable. He sighed, the boy needed to sleep, Antonio did make a mental note to help out with his cuts later though. "Hey, let me show you to your room." Antonio offered him a hand, which the Italian slapped aside, slowly standing up and wobbling on his feet. He just snapped at Tonio when he tried to help and followed him warily to a huge guests room.

Antonio held the door open for the Italian, "Night, get a good nights rest." The Spaniard said, closing the door on his way out.

_What? _Lovino stood there, rooted to his spot. He stare at the door in question, _the HELL just happened? Didn't he want to use me like all the others? _Lovino was confused and tired; he felt a sudden urge to pass out. So without another though he crawled into bed and closed his eyes, deciding to worry about it tomorrow.

Yeah! So…

To Kaitogirl95: Loved it, hated it? Want something to happen? Just let me know.

This chapter was REALLY short, but I was tired (4 in the morning where I am) and I just want to get this out for Kaito, she's been waiting long enough. So everyone else, like always, comment if you want me to have a pairing in here, comment in general, they are my life!

Thanksies!~


	2. The beginning of trust?

Chapter 2 The beginning of trust?

Lovino had to admit, he'd slept better that night than he had in years. The Italian woke up early the next morning just as the suns first rays crept through the drapes. His almond eyes opened and he yawned adorably, blinking twice to get the sleep out of his eyes. Slowly, he pushed himself into a sitting position, propped up on his elbows and still half lying on his back. Now that he was energized he took in the sight of the room. It was huge, though there was not much furniture other than a master bed, bedside table, a coral colored lamp on said table, and a wardrobe opposite the bed. The ceiling was also a great deal higher than regular ceilings.

Lovino sat up fully, his legs dangled off the edge of the warm bed as he shivered at the sudden cold gust of wind that engulfed him. He ignored it and stood up, or tried to. The second he did he sunk to his knees; his back was in terrible pain from being whipped the day before, right before the auction. He growled and took a deep breath, using the side of the bed to push himself into a standing position. He wobbled slightly, but remained on his feet. _I wonder what I should do, usually I have to get up and make breakfast. But he never told me to… maybe he just expected me to do it? _Lovino decided upon the latter, quickly running his hands over his cloths to try to rid them of wrinkles.

He frowned when the little folds refused to leave and sighed, hopefully his master would have new clothing for him, the old ones he was currently wearing had a bit of blood on them from his neck, along with his back was coated in dry blood, invisible to the human eye because of his black shirt. He tired to tuck his tail in his pants but sighed when it obviously wasn't working, most masters hadn't minded the tail, in fact it was their favorite part; that and his ears. He just let his brown tail trail behind him as he walked; it swayed back and forth silently.

It took Lovino all of ten minutes to find the kitchen, which was just as grand as the rest of the house. All of the appliances were stainless steel, and the floor was a pearl white tiling that looked deadly expensive. Lovino opened the (giant sized) fridge and looked inside. It had practically everything that there was to have, eggs, every sort of meat (bacon, sausage, etc), milk, juices, and creamer. Lovino finally decided upon bacon, eggs, grits, and pulled out a glass; he had no idea what kind of juice his master liked.

He turned the advanced stove on, setting a large pan on one of the burners. He hardly had to wait a minute before the stove was plenty hot to cook. He cracked two eggs and put three strips of back on the one pot, having plenty experience cooking before. He hummed silently to himself and tapped his foot on the tiled floor as he waltzed through the kitchen, finding more and more that would make a wonderful breakfast.

"What's that smell?" Lovino almost yelled as he was interrupted from his own little world. He spun around on his heels to see a sleepy looking Antonio leaning up against the door frame, his chocolate brown hair was even more disheveled (if possible) and his eyes were half lidded from tiredness. Lovino could distinctly see black bags under his eyes.

"Breakfast, bastard…" He mumbled, turning back around to face the food. He ignored the tired Spaniard who was just standing there for a moment, before walking over and next to the Italian, observing what he was cooking.

"You know, as much as I love breakfast, don't feel like you have to get up early every morning to make it. Feel free to sleep in for as long as you want to." The older teen offered, Lovino looked up at him in shock before remembering to act calm. He quickly looked back down at the food and stripped his face of the questioning glare.

"Why the hell am I even _here_ then?" Lovino spat, wanting very much to know, "If you don't… use me like everyone else, and you don't want me to cook or whatever the fuck else; why am I here?" He looked at the tiled ground, now positive that his seemingly nice master would break and slap him; or worse. Lovino distinctly remembered every time he had spoke out of place, it had always resulted in some form of punishment. He however felt no sort of pain, rather a hand place lightly on his shoulder.

"Dun know~" the Spaniard answered cheerfully, "You just looked so… well, I just thought it'd be nice to have some company, I don't often have anyone to talk to." Antonio quickly covered what he was about to say with the cheer filled words.

Lovino couldn't help but to freeze under the Spaniards touch, it was unlike any other he'd ever felt before. It was gentle, not meant to hurt him; as well as innocent and filled with only the intent to help. He still didn't trust the boy though, there had to be _something_, some secret that he held. The Italian only muttered something illegible under his breath in response and took a step away quickly, returning to the food.

Soon enough a divine meal was prepared, and despite Lovino's protests, Antonio had managed to get him to sit with him instead of eating in the kitchen like he had originally planned. Antonio took a deep whiff of the enticing aroma before digging into the food. Lovino ate his quickly as well; he was half starved; not having eaten for a day and a half.

Antonio was the first to finish with a content sigh he pushed his plate back slightly and leaned back, closing his eyes for just a moment; which turned into a very long minute. Lovino could tell the Spaniard was desperately fighting sleep, so he took the opportunity to take both of their scraped clean plates into the kitchen and wash them. As he stood up, his back whined in protest and he winced, but ignored the aching muscles none the less and walked off with the plates balanced on his fingertips. Little did he realize that Antonio had seen his pain, and was already devising a plan to help.

Lovino finished cleaning the dishes quickly and set them on a rack to dry. He turned around to head back to his room and ran strait into Antonio's chest; not having heard him enter the room. Lovino yelped in shock and jumped back, shaking his head to diminish the clouds and looked up to the Spaniard.

"T-the hell do you want, b-bastard?!" Lovino demanded, beginning to worry yet again that Antonio was going to harm him. The Spaniards expression softened into a small smile and he held his hand out for the Italian to take.

"Come on amigo, let's go get you into some clean cloths; those have blood on them." He said softly, taking Lovino's hand when he didn't offer it and gently pulled him down the corridors of the mansion. The two finally arrived in the Spaniards room and he let Lovino's hand go finally, walking over to his wardrobe and bending over, rifling through it for something that'd fit the frail Italian. Lovino just stood there, watching the other in question; he still couldn't figure out why he was being so kind. _It's all an act, that's got to be it. No one has or will ever be nice to something like me._ He thought sadly, years of beatings and harsh words had worked their way into the neko's mind. "Found them!" Antonio declared happily, standing up with a box in his arms. "My friend Arthur left some of his stuff at my house a few years ago and never came back for them, they should fit you better than mine ever would." He said, walking over to his bed and motioning for the Italian to sit next to him.

Lovino did as silently instructed and sat down next to him, eyeing the cloths. They all looked expensive, some of the items appeared to be silk, and some were cotton as well. "These look…" Lovino began slowly, picking one of the silver vests up and running his fingers through the water like material, "very expensive…" He finished, carefully setting the vest back down in the box.

"Si, but they'll suit you." Antonio said with a chuckle, "But before that, I want to help you with the cuts on your back, I can tell they are hurting you." He said, reaching down and under the bed for the first aid kit. Lovino immediately froze up upon the mention of it.

"N-no…" The Italian mumbled, scooting away. He didn't want to be touched by Antonio, he was sure that he was going to hurt him sooner or later. "D-don't… I don't want you to…" He said, shaking his head as his cat ears drooped down in a scared kind of look. His tail was curling and uncurling uncomfortably as well.

Antonio looked at the cowering teens form sadly, knowing he'd have to persist, "Si Lovi, sorry but I promise I won't hurt you, I just don't want you to hurt." He mumbled, placing a hand on the shaking teens shoulder, earning a whimper of fear. "Hey, it's alright. I'm just gonna help with the pain." Antonio whispered, finally earning a small nod from the Italian. He watched as Lovino tugged his black shirt off over his head, and he almost gasped at the dozens of scars and new wounds running all down his back, and even a few different looking wounds along his front. _Bite marks?_ Antonio wondered, that was sure what they looked like.

Lovino, as if he knew exactly what to do, lay down on his stomach so Antonio could get to his back easier. The Spaniard crawled closer so he was sitting on his knees on the right side of the shaking Italian. From here he could see just how frail the younger boy was; Antonio could see his ribs, and he grazed a hand over them gently before getting a washcloth and wetting it with the small bottle of water he had.

He started with the most obvious, by cleaning off all of the dried blood. He could slowly feel the muscles in Lovino's back relax and he saw the Italian's eyes slide halfway shut. Antonio smiled, contempt that he was no longer in fear for the moment. He finished cleaning up the blood and looked at the wounds, almost all of them could have used stitches, but this late on there wasn't much point. At the end of the day, there would be some pretty vivid scars. He looked down the Italians back, seeing his chocolate brown tail slowly swooshing back and forth in lazy happiness. Antonio decided there wasn't much else to do and grabbed the bandages, beginning to cover the wounds with them. Thinking back to the bite marks, there wasn't much he could do with those either. And plus, they were in places on Lovino's body that Antonio doubted Lovino would have liked him to touch. So he simply sat back and mumbled "done~".

Slowly Lovino as up and looked over to the Spaniard, who had grabbed clothing for the boy to change into. Lovino took them without question and stood up, sliding the white button up shirt on his pale form before sliding a light brown and tight sleeveless vest on over it. He did up the buttons on them, and then turned to see Antonio who was gazing out the window, giving Lovino much needed privacy. Lovino shrugged his old and beaten up blue jeans off along with his boxers and instantly slid another pair on, allowing himself to take a bit more time to pull the black dress pants up. Lastly, he grabbed the black bowtie from the bed and tied it on with perfection. He looked himself up and down, he had looked better than he thought he could have.

"Done…" He mumbled, giving Antonio the okay to turn back around. The Spaniard did so and couldn't help but to look the Italian up and down, his ears were still perked on top of his head, and his tail was swishing slightly behind him.

"Bravo Lovi, you pull that outfit off better than Arthur ever could have." Antonio observed, clapping his hands lightly together and smiling softly. Lovino blushed and squirmed uncomfortably in his spot, not used to being paid attention to. After Antonio finished his little clapping spree, he stood up and grabbed the box, motioning for Lovino to follow him. The Spaniard walked to the Italian's room and set the box of cloths down carefully on the bed before turning and walking out; Lovino on his heels like a lost puppy.

"Toniooooo!~ the awesome me is here!" came a loud Prussian voice from down the hall. Lovino turned his head to see two strange men walking towards them. One had white hair and crimson eyes, and the other was a bit taller, had shoulder length blond hair and cerulean eyes.

"Hola mi amigos!" Antonio cried out cheerfully, walking towards them and greeting them. Lovino for the moment was completely invisible and he just continued to watch the scene with mild curiosity. The trio chatted for a minute, until Francis's eyes lay upon Lovino.

"Antonio, who is the cute fellow behind you?" the Frenchman asked, walking around Antonio and to Lovino, who took a precautious step backwards. "Bonjour, I'm Francis." His honey smooth voice purred as he held out a hand for Lovino to take. Lovino however just zoomed over to Antonio and stood behind him, pressing himself up against the Spaniard's back and watching over his shoulder.

Gilbert couldn't help but to chuckled, "Francis you scare everybody," He proclaimed, glancing over at the confused Frenchman, obviously he'd never been turned down before. Gilbert turned to Lovino and held out his hand, but this time he moved slower then Francis, and waited a respectful distance away from the Italian. Finally Lovino reached out and shook the Prussian's hand, "The name is the Awesome Gilbert!" He announced proudly.

"I'm Lovino…" He muttered, offering a small smile. Gilbert smiled at the Italian and then turned back to Antonio.

"Francis and I need to talk to you about the mafi-" Gilbert's sentence was cut off by Antonio, who quickly nodded and shushed him. Gilbert and Francis raised an eyebrow at him questioningly, but said nothing.

"Si, si. Lovino, do you think you could go wait in your room for un momento?" He asked, the Italian nodded and walked off slowly back to his room, wondering what they needed to discuss that was so secretive.

"Antonio, have you not told him that you're the head of the Spanish mafia?" Gilbert asked. ((A/N: Bet you guys didn't see that one coming.)) Antonio simply shook his head in response.

"I haven't had a chance to, he just got here yesterday." The Spaniard said, beginning to walk to his study and motioning for his friends to follow. Once they arrived in the large room Francis closed the doors behind them, locking it securely.

"You're not gonna tell him, are you Tonio?" Gilbert asked, settling himself in one of the comfortable chairs near a large desk; Francis settled next to Gilbert in the chair near him. Antonio walked around the desk and sat down in the chair behind it.

"No, he doesn't need to know…" Antonio mumbled, picking up a pen and biting n the cap thoughtfully, "No one has bothered me for a year and a half, no one else is going to try to kill me."He concluded, looked to his two best friends for their consent, he needed it badly to be sure he was safe at long last. The two looked over at each other, and then slowly shrugged their shoulders.

"You may be, but both Francis and I are still facing issues with the Prussian and French mafia… I can't say for sure that you're 100% safe." Gilbert concluded solemnly. Antonio sighed and nodded, "Now then, let's discuss what we came here for…"

Lovino walked into his room and over to the box of clothing. He picked it up, grunting over its weight and carried it over to the wardrobe. He let the box fall to the floor with a thud and he opened the closet doors, looking in on the spacey wardrobe. He looked at it for a moment more before reaching down and in the box, grabbing the first thing his hand lay on and picking it up. He hung the shirt up on a cloths hanger, and then reached down again. Lovino finally finished with the cloths and shut the wardrobe's doors and walked over to his bed. He sat down on the edge of it and couldn't help but to realize that his back was no longer paining him. He smiled to himself; Antonio had really meant no harm. He reached up to his cat ears and poked one, earning a jolt to go down his spine. He quickly yanked his hand away; his ears were an extremely sensitive place; as was his tail.

He lay strait back and looked up at the ceiling for a moment before sitting back up and standing. He walked over to the large window in his room and looked out of it, below him was a magnificent garden. He gaped down at it, there was every color imaginable down there. Purple, blue, green, red, pink, white and even a black flower. He pressed himself up against the glass, trying to see more of the garden. He looked around, seeing a large fountain in the middle of the maze like garden. He sighed, reminding himself to ask Antonio if he could go out there.

"Do you like my garden, Lovi?" Lovino jumped when he heard the Spaniards voice right behind him. He turned to see Antonio standing there with a warm smile on his face. Lovino glanced back out the window.

"Yeah…" He mumbled slowly, looking back to Antonio; wondering where his friends were. Antonio knew what he was wondering and opened his mouth to speak.

"Francis and Gilbert left, they just had a quick question." He said cheerfully, slowly raising his hand for Lovino to take, "Want to go down to the garden?" He asked. Lovino quickly nodded, then realized that Antonio had no intention of moving unless he took his hand. Hesitantly, Lovino slid his hand into Antonio's and felt the Spaniard intertwine their fingers together. Antonio smiled softly again at him and Lovino just looked away, still confused as to why the kind Spaniard was even bothering with him. Antonio began to walk and the Italian followed, looking around the large halls at the paintings hanging on the walls. The two finally arrived at the garden.

Lovino couldn't help but to gasp in amazement, it was far better when you were standing right there, and you could smell the celestial smell; and see the cherry colored blossoms hanging on the large tree near the edge of the garden. He absentmindedly let go of the Spaniards hand as he took a large step forward and into the garden. Antonio chuckled and followed him silently, watching him zoom from bush to bush, tree to tree, taking in the entire sight.

"Do you like it?" Antonio finally asked, seeing the Italian calm down. He turned back to the Spaniard with a grin on his face that made Antonio's heart flutter. He'd never seen the teen smile before.

"It's amazing!" He said happily, walking to the center of the garden and to the fountain. He looked down to see Koi fish swimming around lazily, they were huge. Lovino's tail was swishing back and forth contently as he watched them swim under the lilli pads that littered the water.

"I'm glad," Antonio said happily, "You're welcome to come here whenever you want." He offered, earning a happy nod from the Italian, who was now walking over to the cherry tree at the corner of the lot. Antonio watched with amusement as he tentatively grabbed the first and lowest branch, and he quickly swung himself up in the tree. Antonio gaped for a moment, surprised that the frail seeming Italian had that much upper body strength to pull himself up. He quickly walked over to see Lovino near the top of the tree, just beginning to settle down on one of the branches. He plucked a flower off of a branch and twirled it around in his fingers for a moment before letting it fall.

"Can I come up with you?" Antonio called up, realizing that the Italian was a good forty feet up. Lovino looked down and nodded, returning to his comfortable seat. Antonio grabbed the lowest branch and swung himself up as well. He carefully placed his hands on the slippery bark in all the right places and pulled himself up until he was hanging onto the branch Lovino was sitting on. With one final hoist he was sitting next to the Italian. "Good spot ya found here." Antonio mumbled in approval, seeing that you could lean back from the branch he was sitting on and be leaning up against another branch; it provided a very good leaning back seat.

Lovino nodded and leaned back on the branch, curling his tail around the bottom branch just to assure he didn't fall out. Antonio looked at his adorable self, his cat ears were twitching whenever a bee flew near them, and his eyes had slid shut.

Antonio soon became just as relaxed, and soon both of the boys were in their own worlds, it was peaceful far up in the tree. Antonio soon became drowsy, and days of not sleeping had taken its toll on him. He didn't notice he was slipping off the tree until he was. He yelped when he felt him slip fully off, and he was falling. Lovino's eyes snapped open and he reacted in a second, he hopped off the branch; only his tail held him on as he grabbed for Antonio's flailing hands. Thankfully, he felt his fingers interlock with the shaken Spaniards and they were both dangling in the air.

Antonio looked up, his entire body was shaking. He saw Lovino directly above him, and his feet were knocking against Antonio's wrists because Lovino was only held up by his tail, so his body had sort of crunched to an upside down V shape. Antonio looked down to see a good 40 foot drop, and plenty of branches to whack him as he fell. He gulped, it would surely break a few of his bones. He looked back up at Lovino with shaking pupils, hoping the neko could pull them back up.

Lovino was struggling to hold them up, Antonio was twice as heavy as Lovino. His almond eyes snapped around the tree, looking for a good place to set the Spaniard down.

"Lovino…" Antonio whispered shakily, keeping his eyes trained on the Italian and not on the ground.

"Hold on… I have an idea…" He mumbled, quickly releasing one of the Spaniards hands. For a terrible moment, Antonio thought he was going to drop him, but then felt both of the Italians hands on his one, then slowly and carefully he changed the hands he was holding so Antonio was facing outward. "See that branch over there?" Lovino asked, motioning with his head towards the branch five feet away. Antonio nodded, not trusting his words. "See if you can grab it when I swing you…" He mumbled, Antonio paled a bit but nodded again. He felt Lovino begin to swing him, then felt him release hands and he was sent air born for a split second before he grabbed hold of the branch. He grunted upon sudden contact with the branch, but pulled himself up anyways onto it. He looked back at Lovino, who suddenly just let go of the branch and dropped.

"LOVINO!" He called out in shock in fear, Lovino however didn't panic, but felt the cat gene in him turn on as he landed a good ten feet down on another branch, feet first. Antonio took a shaky breath and looked down at the neko, "Lovino, are you alright?" he called down, Lovino looked up at him and nodded.

"Fine." He called up, "Can you get down?" he asked, earning a nod from Antonio. The Spaniard carefully climbed down to the ground, where Lovino was already waiting. Not even thinking about what the neko would think, Antonio flung his arms around the smaller boy and hugged him. Lovino immediately froze up and his eyes widened, he didn't pull away, not wanting to anger his master.

"Mi dios Lovi, you scared me to death!" Antonio exclaimed, his voice was slightly muffled due to the fact that his face was buried in the Italians shoulder. ((Mi dios= My god))

"You were the one who fell, you scared _me_." Lovino pointed out, he kept his arms to his side. Antonio couldn't help but to start laughing, and soon his entire body was racked with laughter and even his shoulders shook. "W-why are you laughing?" Lovino asked.

"N-nothing…" Antonio choked out, still trying to control his laughter. _I was just so worried, I thought you were going to get hurt and I didn't think you were worried about me at all because I have been getting the vibe that you don't like me very much and I just think it's FUNNY! _Antonio wanted to say, but just settled with the one answer word instead. Slowly the Spaniard stopped laughing and he released the Italian from his grasp. "Alright, let's go get some food, it's almost lunch time." Antonio said happily, guiding the Italian back into the building.

-After dinnertime—

After the delectable dinner that Lovino prepared the two left the den, both licking their lips contently. Antonio turned to Lovino and bid him farewell for the night and watched the Italian walk slowly back to his room. Antonio sighed, he wish he could go to bed, but with being the head of the Spanish mafia and all. He had no time to sleep. He slowly headed for his study, when he got there he entered and closed the doors behind him; then walked over to his desk and sat in the plush chair. With a tired sigh and a yawn he ruffled through his desk and pulled out a small pile of papers that Francis had given him earlier. He flipped through them with mild interest, too tired to absorb what they said.

For the past month the Russian and the Chinese mafias have been fighting over who got to have an alliance with Germany ((A/N: Btw, completely made up, this conflict never happened)) and of course Gilbert's brother Ludwig was the head of said German mafia. And of course, Ludwig didn't want to have any other alliance than his current one; Italy and Japan. So now Ludwig was asking for Gilbert's help and of course Gilbert had dumped it on Francis who had dumped it on Antonio who was very tempted to burn it. But Antonio knew he couldn't, it would give him very good leverage on the German mafia if he ever needed it.

Antonio had almost dozed off trying to connect all of the problems in his head, but snapped himself back awake and looked down at the papers again. With one final sigh he picked up the first and began to read it thoroughly.

-Two hours later—

With a restless sigh Lovino turned over again, he had been tossing and turning for over two hours now and it was starting to annoy him. He finally sat up and hopped out of bed, deciding to go get some water. He walked down the dark halls slowly, still half asleep.

He walked past Antonio's study and saw a faint glow from under the door. Was Antonio still up at this hour? Lovino creaked the door open to see a very tired Spaniard, but an awake Spaniard none the less. Lovino tripped and fell into the door, which swung open as Lovino stumbled in. He immediately stumbled to his feet, glancing up at Antonio who had jolted out of his seat and was looking like he'd just been slapped awake.

"Fuck, sorry…" Lovino mumbled, standing back up and brushing himself off. Antonio simply nodded, then returned back to his work. Lovino was about to walk out when he glanced back at the Spaniard, the poor teen was practically asleep in his chair. "You know, sleep is a necessary thing." Lovino said, turning back around so he was facing Antonio from across the room.

"Si, but I have work to do…" Antonio mumbled, not in the mood to argue.

"Everyone has work to do, but sleep is still needed." Lovino argued right back, walking over to the desk and refusing to move. "I'm going to get some water, come with me?" He asked, for the first time offering his hand for the Spaniard. Antonio looked up at him tiredly, then to his hand, then back up to his face. Finally he sighed and reached up, tiredly taking the Italians hand and standing up. He wavered a moment on his feet before following him.

They both made it to the kitchen in one piece, despite Antonio's wobbly walking. Lovino grabbed a glass of water and drank it quickly, he hadn't realized how thirsty he'd been. Antonio simply leaned up against the counter. Lovino felt a bit odd seeing Antonio just watch him, but he finished the water quickly and turned back to the Spaniard.

"Are you going to bed now?" Lovino asked, waiting for his answer. Antonio shook his head.

"No… I have too much-" Antonio took an irritated step forward, then swayed on his feet. He looked at his own feet, then Lovino, and with a final "Not going to sleep." He crumpled and fell, thankfully Lovino was quick on his feet and took a step forward, catching the Spaniard as he fell unconscious.

"Antonio? Antonio!" He said in panic, not seeing the Spaniard get back up. He mumbled something illegible in his sleep but remained asleep. Lovino sighed, he was going to have to cart the heavy Spaniard back to his room. "Damn, I can't get him all the way back to his room, it's on the opposite side of the castle!" Lovino struggled to keep Antonio up, but managed. He quickly came to the conclusion that Antonio just would have to sleep in Lovino's room and began to haul him off.

Finally the two made it to Lovino's room, and as carefully as possible Lovino lay the unconscious Spaniard on the bed and pulled the covers up to his chest. He sighed, now where was he going to sleep? "Guess I'll just have to sleep on the opposite side…" he mused, tip-toeing to the opposite side of the bed and sliding in, he remained on the edge of the bed until he heard the Spaniard mumble something in his sleep.

"L-Lovino…" He mumbled, curling up in the sheets and trying to find his little Italian. Lovino froze, then slowly turned to face him. He watched the Spaniard curiously, he was curled up in the sheets which were now tugged up to his ears. He watched as the Spaniard reached out randomly with his arms, as if trying to find the Italian. And suddenly, Antonio crawled towards Lovino, who just tried not to move as the Spaniards arms were wrapped around him yet again. He heard Antonio make a content purring noise in the back of his throat as he nuzzled his nose into Lovino's neck.

The Italian sighed, this would have to do for the night. Plus, it wasn't like he minded, the Spaniard was warm and a comfortable pillow. And it wasn't like it was HIS fault if Antonio woke up and was grossed out by the fact they'd slept so close together, Antonio had gone for him. So with that thought in mind, Lovino snuggled closer to the sleeping Spaniard and fell asleep in his arms.

Author's Note: Yay, so the second chapter is finally out! I worked hard on this and even looked back over it to perfect it, which I NEVER do, so I hope you guys enjoy.

Please comment, like, favorite, what the hell ever; just let me know what you like, dis-like, if you want me to introduce a character, or pairing.

Thanksies!~


	3. Antonio's sickness

Chapter 3 Antonio's sickness

Lovino was the first of the two to wake up the next morning. His almond eyes slowly slid open to see a sleeping Antonio and he immediately blushed; he was so close to him! Lovino realized they were so close that their noses were brushing against each others. He forced himself to stay still, afraid that any movement may wake the Spaniard. Lovino finally calmed down and he quickly became bored. He resorted to simply watching Antonio sleep; he was hot even when he slept. His eyes were closed peacefully, and his mouth was hanging open just slightly. His breathing was slow and rhythmic and his hair hung in his eyes slightly.

Lovino was in awe, he had never noticed just how attractive Antonio really was. Sure, he'd noticed when he had first seen him, but that was when he was still terrified of the Spaniard. And now that he wasn't worrying as much, he saw how perfect he was, with his faultless jaw line and wonderful cheekbones it was hard to describe the Spaniard as anything but sexy. He blushed, but kept looking at him contently. He raised his hand slowly and brushed his fingers over one of the Spaniards best features; his lips. He held his fingers up against the Spaniards lips for a brief moment before pulling them away quickly.

Lovino sighed and curled up closer to the Spaniard, glad that the older teens arm was still wrapped protectively around his shoulders, making it very easy to cuddle exceedingly close to him. He quietly changed positions but was unable to find a good way to lay, each time he tried his arms would get cramped when they were pulled close to his chest. Finally Lovi had an idea and he blushed, but did as his brain told him to do and slowly wrapped his arms around Antonio's middle so he was hugging him. He sighed, this was amazingly comfortable.

The Italian let his eyes slide shut after he glimpsed out the window and noticed that it was still half dark out. Slowly but surely he drifted back off into his dream world.

*Two hours later*

Antonio was the first to wake up this time, his olive eyes snapped open and he almost shot out of bed, then realized that an exceedingly cute Italian was curled up in his arms and was hugging him back. He forced his body to relax so he wouldn't wake the boy, then thought for a moment on how he had gotten here. Finally the memory of last night flooded into his mind.

"So I fainted…" Antonio whispered to himself, looking back down at the Italian. "He must have been worried about me…" He guessed, then looked around the room and noticed that he was in Lovino's room. He sighed and sat up slowly, trying not to wake up Lovino. Sadly, it didn't work and the Italian's eyes slowly opened.

He looked up at Antonio and blushed, but sat up as well, rubbing his eyes tiredly as the ears on the top of his head twitched slightly. "Morning…" He mumbled, yawning and stretching his arms over his head.

"Buenos dias!~" Antonio chirped, smiling happily at the Italian. Lovino looked the Spaniard up and down, he looked terrible. Despite the hours of sleep he'd gotten, it still wasn't enough to erase the black bags under his eyes, and his cheeks looked flushed as well. The Italian raised his hand up to the Spaniards and was surprised to feel that he was exceedingly hot.

"I think you have a fever sir…" Lovino mumbled, pulling his hand back to his side. Antonio tilted his head to the side slightly.

"No I don't, I haven't had one since I was little, there's no way I could have one now…" he said in a "duh!" tone as he tried to hop out of bed. Lovino shot his hand out and caught Antonio's quickly, preventing him from leaving and going to work more.

"You do have one, so you need to stay in bed." Lovino said like a stubborn child, yanking the Spaniard back onto the pillows. Antonio sighed and tried to get up again.

"Lovi, I have work to do." He said in a slightly irritated tone, feeling the Italians hands on his shoulders, preventing him from sitting up. He grabbed Lovino's wrists gently and placed them in the Italians lap. "I need to work." He said, holding his hands in his lap. Lovino yanked his hands away from the Spaniard and frowned, watching him try to get out of bed again. He seemed wobbly and weak, so Lovino had one final idea to keep the sick Spaniard in bed.

Lovino pushed him back down on the covers on his back then quickly hopped on top of him so he was straddling his hips. He put his hands on the Spaniards shoulders and held him down. "No," He said, "You'll stay here until you get better." He pronounced each of the words slowly, not allowing him to get up.

Antonio looked up at him in shock and stopped struggling. He noticed yet again how attractive he was, with his almond colored hair and his determined hazel eyes boring into him. "Alright…" Antonio finally mumbled, relaxing his muscles as a signal for Lovi to get off of him, and then again, he wasn't sure if he wanted the Italian off of him. Lovino waited for a moment and couldn't help but to stare into the Spaniards emerald eyes. He finally snapped back into his senses and quickly jumped off of him, blushing furiously at what he'd just done. Any one of his other masters would have beaten him senseless for what he'd just done. He sat down next to Antonio, who was now wrapped in the blankets.

Lovino kept his eyes trained on his hands, which were folded neatly in his lap, he didn't dare glance over at Antonio; though he had no idea Antonio was studying him intensely from the corner of his eye. "I'll go get you something to eat…" Lovino finally said, hopping out of bed and walking towards the door quickly. He left the room and closed the door behind him. He pressed his back up against the door and took a few deep breaths, _stop it Lovino, why do you assume that he likes you or some shit? He doesn't, and if he would be able to see you at any of the other houses you'd been at, where you groveled at the feet of old men, he'd be disgusted._ Lovino could feel his form shaking when he drilled the words into his head, but they needed to be there, to keep him sane.

He quickly walked to the kitchen and rummaged through the kitchen, pulling out the ingredients to make tomato soup, the Spaniard sure seemed to have a ton of tomatoes. He quickly yet perfectly prepared the soup, having practiced the particular dish hundreds of times before. Not as much as ten minutes later he was balancing a bowl of the soup and a glass of milk on his fingertips. He opened the door with his tail and pushed the heavy door open with his shoulder. He walked in and saw Antonio, who was staring blankly off into space.

It was obvious he'd started to feel the effects of being sick, based on the fact his hand was over his stomach and he was biting his lip, like he was trying not to throw up. "Back…" Lovino muttered, walking over and seeing how pale he was. Antonio snapped out of his stupor and looked up at Lovino.

"H-hola." He muttered, trying his best to smile, but it turned out more as a grimace.

"I made you soup…" Lovino said, reaching out to give the Spaniard the food.

"Actually Lovi, I'm not that hungry…" He mumbled, paling even more at the sight of food.

"I know, but you still need to eat, it'll help you get better faster." Lovino said, sitting on the edge of the bed and holding the bowl out to him. Antonio sighed and accepted the bowl with wobbly hands. For a brief moment Lovino felt Antonio's hand covering his own to take the bowl, before the warm sensation was gone. Lovino noticed that Antonio was looking at him curiously, and Lovino replied with one of his exceedingly rare smiles.

Antonio felt his heart flutter at the astounding smile that he'd just seen. He smiled at the Italian weakly and spooned up a bit of the delectable looking soup and pressed it to his lips, then slowly let the warm and creamy liquid flood down his throat. He smiled softly at the taste, it was stupendous. Despite the pain he had in his stomach, he couldn't help but to eat nearly all of it before his stomach started screaming at him.

Antonio paled and quickly handed the plate back to Lovino, biting his lip and laying back on the pillow. He felt like he was going to be sick. Lovino hurriedly set the plates down on the bed side table and returning to Antonio, who had laid on his side and curled up into a ball at the pain, he felt tears pool in the corners of his eyes, which he quickly dried. Lovino looked down at him sadly, _what'll I do?! What can I do, he's in pain! _Lovino thought in a panic, he sighed in defeat and just decided to wait for any sign of anything.

After five minutes of Lovino having to suffer through watching Antonio suffer he finally saw the tiniest hint of the Spaniard beginning to relax his muscles. Then what he had hoped wouldn't happen. Antonio shot up and stumbled out of bed, holding a hand over his mouth. Lovino yelped in surprise and followed him quickly down the hall and into the bathroom, where he found the Spaniard hanging over the toilet, by this time just coughing up what little remained in his stomach.

Lovino rushed forward and patted his back lightly, then reached forward and gently brushed some of the Spaniards hair out of his eyes. After a minute of the Spaniards ragged breathing, Lovino moved forward and slipped his arm under Antonio's arms and helped him back to his room. When they made it back to the room, Antonio pretty much collapsed on the bed and snuggled under the covers. Lovino knew how draining being sick was, and decided to leave him alone to sleep. Just as he turned to leave, he felt a hand on his own and turned around to see a sleepy and sick looking Spaniard had reached out weakly and caught his hand. Though he didn't try to speak, his eyes clearly read, "Don't leave, please." Lovino sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed, wondering if the Spaniard just wanted him here for the company, or just for someone to help him get to the rest room if he needed too. But he wasn't expecting a small tug on his hand. His eyes, which had been trained on the window, zoomed back to Antonio. Had he imagined it? Yes, he must h—, there it was again, faint but there none the less. He looked down at Antonio in question, and then realized what he wanted and sighed. He slowly lay down next to the Spaniard, feeling Antonio's arm wrap around his stomach lightly.

He glanced back and saw the Spaniards tired eyes slide shut slowly. Lovino sighed and turned his head back so he was looking at the wall ahead of him, and slowly but surely, he drifted off as well.

Author's Note: Hey, normally my chapters will be a lot longer (10-15 pages) but I have a huge school project coming up really soon (due midnight on Sunday) so I will be working my ass off for that, and won't have time to write any here. So I have a really good story line planned out, with lot's of awesome pairings (poles for pairings you wanted in here are no longer open).

Anyways, just wanted to get a quick chapter out. This one chapter is just fluff, fluff, more fluff, and when the fluffs over; MORE FLUFF. I just adore fluff so…

Danke for reading!


	4. Almost there

Chapter 4 Almost there

Antonio slept through the entire rest of the day, as well as the night. Lovino had finally woken up around two, but had not dared to move. He was warm and comfortable next to the Spaniard, and who could deny the fact that he felt safe and secure in his arms? Finally morning rolled around and the well-rested Spaniards eyes slid open. He yawned silently, noticing Lovino was curled up against him. He had no idea Lovino was awake, however. "Sweet little Lovi…" Antonio murmured affectionately, placing a ghost of a kiss on the Italian's forehead. Lovino did his best not to move as to alert him of being conscious, but he felt heat spread throughout his body from the spot on his head.

Antonio slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, giving Lovino a good chance to open his eyes and pretend like he'd just woken up. "M-morning, bastard…" Lovino muttered, still feeling heat in his forehead. Antonio, as usual, ignored the rude ending and smiled happily.

"Buenos dias~!" he said cheerfully, reaching over and ruffling the Italians hair. Lovino scrunched his nose and flinched, he had never liked people messing with his hair. Usually because it let to tugging on his curl, and that always ended badly.

"Do you feel any better?" Lovino asked, slowly raising a hand to the Spaniards forehead to feel for a temperature. Surprisingly, Antonio felt remarkably cooler, Lovino couldn't tell he ever had a fever to begin with. "Wow…" The Italian muttered, pulling his hand away.

"Si, I feel all better!~" he replied joyfully, then came a knock upon the bedroom door. "I wonder who that is?..." He wondered, "Come in!"

The door opened and in walked Gilbert, grinning as usual. "Hey Tonio, have good sex?" Was the first question out of the Prussian. Lovino squeaked in embarrassment and even Antonio felt his cheeks light up slightly, but he smiled none the less.

"We did nothing of the sort Gil." He said with a cheerful laugh, hopping out of bed and walking over to Gilbert who raised an eyebrow, clearly doubting.

"Yeah yeah, the awesome me doesn't really care. Hey, I need to talk to ya in your study, so I'll wait there." He said, skipping out of the room. Antonio sighed, he really wanted to go back to lying with Lovino, not discuss some paperwork he didn't do due to his sickness.

"Sorry Lovi, I've gotta go work on this…" Antonio muttered, wanting more than anything to crawl back into bed and hug Lovino.

"It's fine, I'll make breakfast." The Italian said, standing up slowly and beginning to walk to his wardrobe as Antonio walked out.

"Gracias!" Antonio chirped, walking down to his study.

Lovino rifled through the closet, finally finding a pair of brown slacks, a white dress shirt, and the same colored brown over-coat. He buttoned the jacket up and looked down at himself, yet another good outfit. With a content sigh he walked out of the room and into the kitchen, walking across the marble tiling and to the fridge. He pulled out what he had yesterday with a few different tweaks to the meal such as French toast.

He hummed quietly to himself and tapped his foot on the flooring as he danced across the kitchen, getting lost in the smell of breakfast. Another ten minutes and the godly food was done. Antonio walked in at the exact time. He smiled and walked over to Lovi, helping him carry the food into the dining room and set it down. The Spaniard was happy to see Lovi sat down in the seat next to his, and he wouldn't try to eat alone again.

"So what was Gilbert talking about?" Lovino asked between a mouthful of pancakes. Antonio nearly choked on his food.

"Hm? Oh nothing, just a birthday party coming up for some people…" He lied, regaining his breath. He had always been a terrible liar, but having to lie to someone as sweet and innocent as Lovino was practically impossible. He watched as the Italian tilted his head to the side slightly in question then shrugged his shoulders and nodded. The two finished their divine breakfast in silence, each of them simply enjoying each others company. Finally they finished and Antonio stood up. "Excuse me, but I have to return to work." He said, Lovino quickly shot up out of his seat.

"Can I come with you?" He had asked before he had even thought about it, he wanted nothing more than to simply be with the Spaniard.

"No." Antonio said quickly and harshly without even thinking about it, then saw Lovino flinch at his tone and he immediately regretted it. Antonio just didn't want Lovi to be scared of him, mafia bosses were generally scary people, and he thought that it may scare the Italian. "Sorry Lovi, but I need to work alone." He said in a softer tone, walking closer to the Italian and affectionately ruffling his hair. Lovino blushed slightly and shied away from his hand but sighed and nodded.

"Alright…" He said quietly, looking away from the Spaniard.

"Alright, I have to go and Lovi, you're welcome to go in the garden whenever you want. You remember how to get there right?" He asked, pausing at the doorway to see the Italian nod in confirmation. With that he walked out of the room and into his study, already dwelling on Gilberts previous words.

*Earlier that day*

_Gilbert closed the door behind Antonio to his study and dropped his goofy demeanor, walking right over to a chair and sitting down. Antonio noticed right away something was wrong, his usually relaxed friend was perched on his seat, like he was going to bolt at any second, and his crimson eyes were "casually" surfing the room and all its nooks and crannies. _

"_Mi amigo, what's wrong?" Antonio finally asked, settling in his seat behind his desk. Gilbert snapped out of his dream land and looked up. _

"_I need to tell you something, right now." He said, looking his friend right in the eye._

"_Si?" Antonio's voice cracked out of nervousness. _

"_Ivan's getting restless, he wants an alliance with Ludwig badly, and I think he's about to do something crazy, like hurt mein brother." Gilbert took a deep breath and ran a hand through his messy white hair, Antonio noted he looked ten years older than he really was, "I need you to do me a huge favor and take him and his boyfriend in for a while, please dude, I can't sleep at night I'm so worried about him." Gilbert finished, giving him a desperate look._

"_I… I don't know amigo. I usually wouldn't mind, but with Lovi here, if things get messy he could get hurt too and I could never risk that." He said slowly, glancing out the window to keep his attention off of Gilbert._

"_Please Tonio, I don't have anywhere else to go. Francis thinks I'm paranoid. And hiding them at my house isn't an option, it's too obvious." The albino pleaded._

_With a tired sigh, the Spaniard nodded, saying no more. Gilbert had thanked him again and again, and then left without another word._

And now Antonio was back in his study, watching as the Italian sat on the edge of the fountain, watching in mild fascination as the Koi swam all around. His tail swished lazily behind him and his ears twitched every so often. He was adorable, so freaking adorable. Antonio sighed, why in the world had he agreed to this? Lovino could get hurt, if worse came to worse.

Antonio stood up after a while, he just couldn't focus on anything. He decided to prepare a bedroom for their guests, who would be arriving soon. He walked down the halls lazily, digging through a few closets to find clean sheets. He was finally rewarded with said sheets and he ambled down the hallways, finding a room that would suit the guests.

After he was done preparing he just wandered, then realized that he should be spending these minutes with Lovi, and not all alone wandering the halls. When he was about to turn to walk to the garden, he heard the doorbell ring. "Here already huh?" Antonio asked aloud, hurrying to the front door.

Standing there was a man around the same height as Antonio, but his hair was a light blond which was combed back, and he had a pair of piercing cerulean eyes staring at him inquisitively. Beside him was a shorter male, about Lovino's height. Antonio realized that the boy looked a great deal like Lovino, but his hair and eyes were a shade lighter, and he had a 100 watt grin plastered on his face.

"Ciao!" the presumable Italian said, immediately pushing his hand out for Antonio to shake. Antonio wanted to laugh, and here he had been wondering if this boy and Lovino were related, no way, they were polar opposites!

"Hola!" Antonio said right back, shaking his hand firmly. He turned to the man whom hadn't said anything yet, and assumed he was Ludwig. "Hola, you must be Gilbert's brother?" he asked, giving him the curdecy of announcing his own name.

"Yes, I'm Ludwig." He said in a serious tone. "And I'd like to thank you in advance for letting us stay here." He thanked.

"Of course of course, oh Lovi, come here, we have guests!" Antonio said, seeing Lovino walking in from the garden. Said neko looked up at Antonio questioningly when he was ten feet away, then stopped in his tracks completely. His face was completely unreadable for a brief moment, his eyes were wide and it seemed he was staring at one of them.

"F-Feliciano…" He muttered, Feli looked up at Lovino, and his eyes widened as well.

"LOVINO!~" He cried out happily, bounding over to his long lost brother and hug-tackling him to the floor. Lovino got over his shock and grinned wider than Antonio had ever seen. He wrapped his arms tightly around his brother who already had tears of joy streaming down his cheeks. "Mio dio Lovi, I thought you'd died!" Feliciano sobbed, hugging his brother tightly and crying into his shoulder, mainly out of happiness at the moment. Lovino wiped the few tears swimming in his eyes and hugged his brother back happily.

Antonio and Ludwig were watching from the doorway, both were thoroughly confused at the scene. Antonio was mainly marveling at the sight of Lovino's smile. "I-I remember Feli mentioning he had a younger brother when he was younger, but he was kidnapped when he was five. He said that he was never seen again, no ransom note, no anything…" Ludwig whispered, and Antonio finally saw the smallest hints of a smile on the Germans face.

Finally the two Italians pulled themselves together enough to stand up, but they remained interlocked tightly together. "Hey Lovi, if Ludwig doesn't mind, why don't you two go to your room?" Antonio offered, Ludwig nodded in approval. Lovino grabbed Feliciano's hand and dragged him off, still grinning like a maniac.

"I'm glad…" Antonio said softly, watching the two go. Ludwig looked over at him.

"What?" He asked in a deep German accent.

"I wasn't sure about two people I didn't know coming here with Lovi, he's usually either timid or cussing. So I'm glad he knows Feliciano." The Spaniard finally motioned for the German to come in, and shut the door behind him.

"I'm surprised to be honest, Feliciano had always said he was sure he was dead. He cried every time the subject had ever been brought up, but he said that there was a really big amount of blood where he went missing, and the cops said that amount of blood loss could easily kill a five year old." Ludwig mumbled, then turned to Antonio. "Anyhow, is there a place for me to set down my and Feliciano's stuff down?" He asked, motioning to the two backpacks on his back. Antonio nodded and directed him to the guest room.

Two hours later the two pairs of males were chatting away, Lovino and Feliciano were laying on the bed, looking up at the ceiling, their hands were interlocked tightly like they never had any intention to let go. Lovino had told Feliciano roughly about what had happened, only that he was kidnapped and sold, but he left out all the grimy details that would make his brother cry. Still by the end of the story, the smaller Italian was indeed in tears. Lovino quickly changed the subject.

"So, who is the guy you're traveling with?" He asked, turning his head to look at Feliciano. His eyes lit up at the question and his eyes quickly dried.

"My boyfriend, Ludwig!" He said cheerfully. Lovino's eyes widened slightly, he was intrigued.

"So, tell me the details." He said fast, really wanting to know.

"Si! I met him a few years ago while I was on an exchange program in Germany. I was picked on a lot because I was gay, but Luddy was gay too so it was cool and he was really really nice to me! And then we just sorta… happened, he didn't go to the same school as me so every second together was like magic, and I couldn't bear being without him, so of course I left with him to come here when he asked!" Feli finished with a deep breath. And then he continued about how amazing he was, "Mio dio, when we first met these bullies had just beat me up and my nose was bleeding and Luddy found me, so he took me back to his house and helped me! And then I met him again on accident after that, and then I got his number and we just started hanging out! And then one night he asked me out and then BOOM!~" He finished, waving his free hand around in the air to express their love for one another.

Lovino just listened, their story was beautiful. Feliciano went into further detail on their first date, it was obvious it had been important. Ludwig had taken them to a nice German place near a river, and afterwards they'd walked around downtown. And finally the blond had taken Feliciano to the top of a hill and watched the 4th of July fireworks. And then they'd kissed. Lovino listened to his brother talk for hours, and finally the two, thoroughly exhausted, fell asleep next to each other.

Antonio had learned that Ludwig loved beer, so he had immediately sat down with the German and a pint each of his best beer. He found that Ludwig was easier to talk to when he had a slight bit of alcohol in his system, and he told about the troubles with the mafias. After a few hours of nonstop talk on the subject, Ludwig had had enough beer to start talking about Feliciano. He was a bit more tight mouthed than the Italian, but he did admit lot's of stuff, loving him, willing to die for him, the usual.

Antonio began to wonder after Ludwig had described being in love. Was he in love with Lovino? He always felt the same way, butterflies in stomach, he couldn't stand to be away from him, and his smile was the best thing that had ever graced the earth. With just a little more beer, Antonio was convinced he was in love, and there was no time to waist, he had to tell him right now.

The Spaniard stood up abruptly, setting his beer down.

"Where are you going?" Ludwig asked, looking up at him with slightly flushed cheeks due to the alcohol.

"I loveeeeeeeee Lovino, and I wanna go tell him!~" Antonio purred "love" for a while, before taking a step towards the door.

Suddenly the door was flung open, and in came a crying Feliciano, with a bit of blood splattered on his forehead. Tears were soaking his face and he was shaking like mad. Ludwig immediately sobered up and stood up, running over to him to make sure he didn't have any wounds. Antonio felt the alcohol wear of slightly as well.

"Feliciano, what happened?!" Ludwig questioned. The Italian was still taking deep and ragged breaths from running, and he was battling tears, but he panted, "I-I-I woke u-up a-and Lovi was g-gone and there was b-blood everywhere!" he sobbed. Antonio went completely pale, and he had the feeling that the Italian had something else to say.

"Anything else?!" Antonio questioned.

"T-there was a n-note, from someone n-named… I-Ivan…" He whispered before falling unconscious.


	5. What next?

Chapter 5 What next?

Antonio had never been more terrified in his life, he sprinted to the room Lovino had been in, throwing open the already cracked door and looking around the room. True to Feliciano's word, the room did have blood all over it, the sheets, floor, random little splatters on the wall, and most and foremost, all over the broken and jagged window. Note, note, Feliciano had said there was a note. Antonio scanned the room, wondering where it would be, and then it hit him. He looked over to the blood spatters on the walls, and slowly he realized they were almost in lines, wait. There was one clearly defined line, so an I, then two slightly diagonal lines meeting at the bottom, that'd be a V, then two more vertical lines meeting at the top with a line through them, A, and lastly what was obviously a N.

Antonio staggered towards the wall, still having a beer or two running through his blood. He placed a hand on the wall to steady himself, then looked at the wall. Well, it wasn't much of a note, but it was an obvious sign of who had taken his Lovino.

Ludwig and a still sobbing Feliciano came into the room after him, the German's eyes widened at the sight. "M-mein gott…" He whispered, wrapping his arms around the Italian and pulling him close, shielding his eyes; he didn't want his precious Feli seeing all this. Antonio turned to the German, he wanted to yell, to scream and tell him this was his fault. This /had/ to be his fault, why else would the head of the damned Russian mafia kidnap his Lovi?!

The Spaniard took a few deep breaths and calmed himself, but couldn't help but to shoot him a venomous look. Ludwig looked truly lost for words, and remained silent, holding onto Feli for dear life. _Of course, you get to hold your Italian. _Antonio thought sourly.

"We'll have to wait…" Antonio barely managed to say, he knew about Ivan from Gilbert who'd given him a good description of the man, the Russian always waited, toying with everyone's minds. "We'll just have to… h-have to fucking wait for Ivan to f-finish his little game." He stormed past the two guests, not wanting to look at either of them. He wanted to yell, scream and kick at something, preferably Ivan, but that wasn't really possible at the moment.

He realized a moment later he was in the garden, where he'd first seen Lovino smile, where he'd first seen the Italian completely relaxed. And most importantly, the first time he'd thrown his arms around him and promised to himself to never, ever let go. _Liar, I can't believe I lied to myself._ Antonio thought as a single tear rolled down his cheek. He wiped it away quickly, walking over to the tree where he'd almost fallen. Almost sub-consciously he climbed the old cherry tree, reaching the spot he and Lovi had sat before.

He held on tightly this time, millions of thoughts ran through his head; and then it hit him. Lovino had absolutely no idea about anything including the mafia. He had no idea why he was in peril, why he was where he was. Antonio bit his lip and lowered his head, damn. Now he wished he had told him, so he could have an idea.

He glanced up and something caught his eye, a little chain of flowers dangling from a branch. He reached up and lightly untangled it from its branchy prison. He pulled it down and held it at eye level. It looked manmade the way the wiry branches were knotted together every so often where the person who'd made it had started weaving in a new vine. With shock he realized that Lovino had probably made it when he's been talking to Gilbert. It was perfectly made, it was strong since it had been weaved. And little pink and perfectly bloomed flowers sprouted from the light brown and smooth bark. Antonio thoughtlessly slid it over his head and it rested comfortably around his neck.

He smiled softly down at it and ran a thumb over one of the petals. With a sigh he climbed down from the tree, the last thing he needed was to fall and not be able to go save Lovino. Because he was going to, even if it killed him, he was going to save his little neko.

*With Ludwig and Feliciano*

"L-Ludwig, what'll we do?! Lovino… He's been…." Feliciano just couldn't stop crying, "He-he was captured again, after I just f-found him!" He clung onto Ludwig's front part of his jacket, burying his head in his shoulder. Ludwig had remained silent other than the soothing words, he knew there wasn't really much he could say.

"Shh shh, Mein liebe." He whispered, kissing his forehead lightly. Slowly Feliciano managed to make his sobs subside to sniffles, and then hiccups. He still clung onto the German for his life though, he couldn't bear to lose another person today.

"H-hey Luddy, do you think he'll be alright?" Feliciano asked, looking up at the German, laying his chin on Ludwig's chest and peering at him with his questioning hazel eyes. A small and reassuring smile appeared on the German's face and he nodded.

"Ja, I do. Ivan will contact us soon, and then we'll go and get him. Alright?" Ludwig leaned down and brushed his lips up against the Italians soft ones. Feliciano felt a smile return on his face at long last, Ludwig's kisses always made the world perfect.

He leaned up a bit more, not wanting it to stop. Ludwig complied, leaning down to meet his. It was no use sitting up perched on the edge of a bed, so the German kicked his shoes off, then aided in getting the Italian's off as well, then, with their lips still connected, he lay back on the bed of the guests room Antonio had given them. Feliciano was now laying on top of him, and he straddled the Germans hips, running his hands through the German's wheat perfectly combed back blond hair, ruining its neat look completely and ruffling it up.

Ludwig licked Feli's lower lip and he moaned softly, complying with his wishes. The German's tongue slowly worked his way in and around the Italians mouth. He poked and prodded Feli's tongue, earning another small moan. Finally the two had to break apart for air, but only for a moment before Ludwig rolled on top of Feli, kissing him again.

"L-Ludwig…" Feliciano gasped, finally breaking another hot and quick kiss. Ludwig creaked his eyes open. He remained silent, waiting for his words, "S-should we be doing this? I-I mean, should we be with Antonio maybe?..." He trailed off.

"Da, I would suggest that but I don't think he wants to see me right now…" Ludwig said in a somewhat awkward manor.

"B-but why not Luddy? I would think everyone'd want to see you!" He said happily and Ludwig couldn't help but to smile at his innocent little Italian.

"I think that us coming here may have had something to do with it, but let's not worry about that tonight." He added the last part, seeing the Italians face sadden slightly at the thought. He leaned back down and stole the Italian's lips once more. "Let's just focus on us tonight." He whispered into his ear, earning a little mewl of approval as he bit the Italian's ear.

"A-alright." He mumbled, back, knowing what wonders awaited. With that, Ludwig slowly slid the Italian's shirt over his head, enjoying every second of it.

*Lovino*

The Italian felt a terrible pounding in his head the moment he woke up, so he kept his eyes closed tightly. Where was he? He moved his fingers slightly, and was greeted by what felt like a hard and damp cement floor. Suddenly his eyes snapped open and he bolted upright despite the pain all over his body. _Oh no, it—it wasn't all a dream was it? Oh god, oh fuck! _His eyes searched for any sign on his body that the fabulous Spaniard had in fact, existed. When he could fine not the slightest sign, he felt tears roll down his cheeks.

This place was too much like where he had been before Antonio—wait, did he never leave? Was all of this a dream? His eyes scanned the room, it was dark and damp, water dripped from cracks in the ceiling and various random things lay around the almost empty cell.

The door creaked open and he winced at the sudden bright light, gritting his teeth at the creaking noise the door made, it resembled nails on a chalkboard and hurt his head. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw a man there, maybe 20 or 21? He had snowy white hair, but it was obvious by his defined jaw line and violet eyes that sparkled with youth, he couldn't be any older than 23. Lovino couldn't help but to whimper in fear, he saw what appeared to be a whip hanging out of the man's pocket.

There was something "off" about this guy; he had a purplish glow, almost like a deadly demon hanging over him. His amethyst eyes held dark and toxic thoughts, and his innocent childish smile sent Lovino into silence, not a peep came out of him.

"My my, we're finally awake are we? It took you long enough Feliciano, my name is Ivan." He purred, and this is what caught Lovino off guard, Feliciano?

"M-my name's n-not Feliciano…" He muttered, his entire frame shook as he realized his hands and feet were chained to the wall and he was pretty much incapable of moving. He struggled against the restraints, only to feel a hand whip across his face. He yelped in shock, leaning up against the rough wall, which scratched his back and cause him to arch his back against it.

"You'll learn not to lie to me." The terrifying man said.

"I-I swear I'm not. F-Feli is my b-brother." He whimpered, wanting to rub his throbbing cheek. The Russian's face went from cheery to very, /very/ scary indeed.

"You're Lovino?" He asked, the Italian was surprised to know that he knew his name. He nodded slowly in response, not trusting his words. It seemed like Ivan was fighting himself, whether to go kill someone or kill Lovino for the messup, "Well," He said through gritted teeth, "We meant to get your brother, but you'll do. Let's send a little message to Antonio, shall we?" He asked.

Even though Lovino was mortified, the sound of Antonio's name proved that he hadn't been dreaming. The thought gave him just enough courage to summon a bit of bloody saliva, then spit on Ivan's face. "Go to hell." He hissed up at him. Ivan chuckled darkly.

"Where do you think I come from?" he purred, reaching down and releasing the chains that kept Lovino's hands near the ground. He immediately yanked them upwards, re-chaining them to ones up high that forced Lovino to stand up on his tippie-toes. He hired it just enough o strain Lovi's muscles in an uncomfortable way and so Lovi was facing the wall, face and chest pressed uncomfortably into the cement. "Alright, let's get a good picture for Antonio now shall we?" He asked, expecting fear and submission. But with another whisper of the Spaniards name, he was bold enough to motion to his hand which was held up high, flipping the Russian off.

Ivan frowned at this and reached around to the front of Lovino's shirt, nearly tearing it off of him. He did in fact, grab a knife from his pocket and cut the remaining shirt off. Lovino froze, now shirtless and chained to a wall.

"Now let me ask again, picture time for the dear Spaniard?" He cooed, now just messing with the Italians mind. Lovino felt tears well in his eyes, but he stuck his tongue out at him. He heard the Russian step back, and wondered why, until he felt a searing pain tear down his back.

"Ack!" He cried out, arching his chest into the cement just as another flash of a whip contacted with his pale and scarred back. He felt tears brim further until they spilled down his cheeks, but the whip didn't stop for another ten exceedingly painful blows. Finally he felt the whip stop, and he was left to focus on the excruciating pain. Tears now streamed down his face and he had no power to resist as the chains came undone and he slid to the ground. He heard a camera click and he looked up to see Ivan with a grin on his face.

"Lovely, I'm sure this'll boost their spirits." Ivan said, dropping the bloodied whip back in his pocket and walking out without another word.

Lovino looked up at the ceiling and fell backwards from the upwards head movement. He lay flat on his injured back, crying from the pain but too weak to do anything.

"A-An…tonio…" He coughed out, before letting his eyes slide closed and he fell unconscious.

Author's Note:  Yay, next chapter is out. Sorry this isn't one of my longest, but it has a fair amount of crap going on to occupy you people for now. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this and yeah, hope you also enjoyed the GerIta~

Danke for reading!


	6. Holding your lover close

**Author's Note: Yay, next chapter. First of all I need to clear the air with something. I apologize for Ludwig in the last chapter, I didn't mean to make him so douchey, it was late and I hadn't posted in way too long so I hurried on the chapter. I really didn't mean to make him such of a douche, and you guys will hopefully forgive me for that, because I sat there and just... Freaked out the next morning when I read over it on the site. Oh, and I apologize in advance, I have the national flower for Italy in here, and I have no Internet so this is going off of what my father "thinks" is right, so correct me if I'm wrong and I'll fix it. Alright, enjoy!**

Chapter 6 Holding your lover close

Ludwig woke up the next morning with an adorable little Italian curled in his arms, and immediate guilt consumed him. Had he seriously...? Damn, he did. He looked down at Feli, who was curled up against him with the sheets wrapped tightly around almost all of his body, save his head. Ludwig sighed silently, he'd been sure his intentions had been pure last night, all he'd wanted was for his precious Feli not to be sad, not to cry. And that had been the first thing that came to mind. But now the gravity of the entire scenario weighed in his mind, he'd had good and happy sex while his brothers best friend had probably been crying. He didn't actually know Antonio all that well, but it hardly mattered.

Silently he slipped out of bed, making sure to cover Feliciano up carefully before tugging a pair of pants on and a gray shirt. He crossed the room and opened the door slightly, sliding through it and closing it with a soft click behind him. He wandered around the large house for a moment before finding the kitchen. His stomach growled at the thought of it, but he refused to do anything else until Antonio woke up so he could apologize. He wasn't sure how he was going to do it, but he was. He wandered around the large room before following a hall down to what appeared to be the lounge room. Ludwig's eyes widened slightly as he saw a tired looking Spaniard sitting in a chair.

"Good morning." Ludwig said, then regretted it, nothing about this morning was good. Antonio jumped slightly at the voice, then turned to face him.

"Morning..." He muttered, leaning back up against the chair tiredly. Ludwig awkwardly walked across the room, sitting down in the chair opposite him an looking down at his hands. The world was silent for a moment, Ludwig was rubbing his hands together slowly, trying to sum up the words to apologize. Finally, the silence was broken.

"I'm so sorry..." Ludwig barely whispered, looking down at his hands, "Lovino got kidnapped because of me, because I'm here..." He dared to look up at Antonio, then back down at his hands when he saw that a tiredness filled his eyes, "And then I went and made it worse by..." He didn't finish, just bit his lip and lowered his gaze to the floor.

Surprisingly, Antonio chuckled, "I know Chico, I heard you two last night." He said with a hint of amusement in his voice, "It's not your fault that Lovi was captured, I'm a part of the mafia too, Ivan could have just as easily gone after me on purpose. And I really don't mind if you two had sex, I hope it was pretty damn awesome sex and I was just glad to be left alone." By the end of Antonio's little speech, Ludwig was as red as a tomato. Antonio laughed at this, he couldn't really get mad at someone who was two years younger than himself. Antonio was 17, and Ludwig, Lovino and Feliciano were all 15. It just wasn't right in Antonio's mind to yell at someone who had two years less of life lessons.

"I... just wanted to apologize..." The German said, standing up and walking out. Antonio waved to him, alright, maybe he'd been a bit blunt with him. But hey, now they were even. He leaned back in his hair, sighing tiredly and running a hand through his disheveled hair tiredly, not having slept all night.

And that's when his phone buzzed, showing an untraceable number.

He frowned slightly, picking it up from the table besides him, flipping up open and hitting "open". His eyes widened and his heart about pounded out of his chest; it was Lovi. More specifically, his little Italian all beaten and bloody, terrible marks cascaded all the way from his shoulders to his lower back, tears streaked his cheeks and worst of all, his mouth was open slightly, looking like he was trying desperately to say Antonio's name.

Antonio whimpered slightly in fear of what was happening to his little Lovi, and quickly typed a message.

"What do you want for him?" He waited nervously as the message sent, and for a bit he though that no one was going to respond. Until it buzzed and the screen lit up.

"I think I'll wait for a while, break him in a bit more." Antonio felt tears brimming in his eyes as he typed another message quickly.

"Please, give him back."

However after a few minutes he deemed that he wasn't going to be getting a reply, Ivan was going to screw with his mind until he was putty in his hands, which he already was.

With trembling hands, Antonio slid his phone into his phone, trying not to panic. He was going to be strong through this, no one else needed to worry over him. However, after a total of 10 minutes of sitting there and shaking, he whipped out his phone again, dialing Francis's number and listening to the ring tone before a very groggy French voice answered.

"Tonio... It's six in the morning..." Antonio couldn't even act okay over the phone.

"L-Lovi was captured b-by Ivan..." He mumbled into the phone, "A-and now I don't know what to f-fucking d-do because he's hurt!" Antonio was struggling to hold back sobs as he tried to explain everything without breaking down.

"I'll be right over." Said a suddenly very serious voice as he hung up. Antonio slowly slid his phone back into his pocket, accepting defeat and curling his knees to his chest, burying his face in his arms.

What seemed like a second later Francis was walking in, using his key and half jogging to where he knew Antonio would be. He walked into the lounge room, the familiar sense of old and comfortable house smell filled his nose. He knew that Antonio loved this room, he used to sit in there everyday with his father, and learn things that would help him become stronger. And after his father had died a few years ago, he'd become completely dependent and started running the Spanish mafia. Now the usually cheery Spaniard was curled up in his favorite arm chair.

"Mon ami, I'm here." Francis said softly as he walked in, patting his friends shoulder sympathetically as he walked over to the chair opposite his friend. Antonio looked up at him, managing a weak smile before he rested his chin on his knees. "So... Ivan has Lovi..." He said softly, earning a nod in confirmation. "We'll get him back, have no fear, I'm sure he's doing just fine." Francis said, earning a literal phone being flung in his face. He caught it and then looked up at Antonio, as if saying, "Why'd you just fling a phone at me?" Until he heard him speak.

"T-The unreachable number, it's Ivan's, check it out." He mumbled, listening to the small gasp that emitted from the Frenchman's lips when he found the photo. "Just fine huh?" He asked, frowning slightly. He was glad he could be moody around Francis, who always took it calmly and never snapped. Gilbert was just the kind of person to snap right back when Antonio did, so that was his main reason for calling the Frenchman.

Francis sighed, so much for perfectly alright, "We'll get him back mon ami, we will." He said softly, not having any other thing to say, there really wasn't much he could say. Antonio nodded, keeping his miserable glare concentrated on the floor. "I promise, we'll get your friend back." Francis said again, not knowing all that was going on during the few days. Antonio looked up at him with all seriousness, but then his expression softened to a sad and pouting face.

"Francis, I love him."

*Lovino*

Two days had passed since Ivan had come in and whipped him, and Lovino felt his eyes slide open as he woke from another nightmare. His mouth was parched, tiny dry spots formed on his tongue and no matter how hard he tried, they just wouldn't moisten again. His hands had been freed from their restraints two days ago, and no one had bothered to chain them back up. After waking up from the beating, Lovino had managed to stand for a mere second before his back exploded with pain and he had been forced to lay down, rather fall to his knees and then lay in the damp dungeon. There was no way in hell that he could walk now, even if his life depended on it.

He groaned in pain as he shifted his leg, sending a jolt up his spine, making a sensation similar to stabbing claim his back. He lay as still as possible, trying to keep his eyes open. His breathing was shallow and flittery, and his entire body was shaking due to his current state.

"Awake are we Lovi?" Came a voice from the door. Lovino weakly looked up to see Ivan, grinning like a serial killer.

"G-go to... hell..." He muttered, wincing at the head movement.

"You'll be begging to go to hell after what I have planned for you today." He said, reaching down and roughly yanking him to his feet. The Italian cried out in pain, tears brimmed in his eyes as he felt his hands be cuffed to the wall again, forcing him on his feet. This time his back was up against the rock, and he was facing the Russian. He cowered in fear, completely unable to move. Ivan took a few large steps forward, and now he was less than a foot away. He placed a hand right next to Lovi's head, on the cement. He leaned in close enough for Lovi to touch him with his nose, if he had desired to.

"I'm going to mark you, make you mine." He said slowly, pulling out a silver dagger from his coat pocket. Lovino felt himself begin to shake a tad more, and he shook his head in a silent plead as his ears drooped. Ivan placed the tip of the blade against his skin, right on his hip above his jeans line (he was still shirtless from the whipping) and kneeled down so he was eye level with the soon to be cut skin.

"N-no... d-don't..." He whispered, shaking his head no quickly. Then he felt the blade be pushed into his skin tenderly, then slowly force was added. Soon drops of blood blossomed and slid down to the hilt of his knife. Lovino gasped in pain, biting his lip and doing his best not to scream. However he had to let out a cry of pain when the knife was suddenly dug in deeper, and was slowly dragged down an inch or two, creating an I. "S-Stop it!" He cried out, feeling him start on the V.

"Shut up." Ivan said softly, digging it deeper momentarily causing another cry of pain. Lovino felt tears well up in his eyes and streak his cheeks as his tail was wagging weakly behind him.

"P-Please, ST-STOP!" He sobbed, feeling the A be sketched into his skin. He writhed underneath the Russian, sobbing and trying to twist away. This had to be worse than any rape, beatings, anything else in the world that he'd ever felt. "Stop... stop..." He begged, his voice slipping to a whisper as the last letter was finished up and Ivan took a step back, admiring his work.

"Hm, I like it." He said happily, rubbing his thumb over the N before reaching the A, digging his finger into the wound slightly, causing another sob of pain. He unlatched one of the Italians hands, pressing a cloth into it, "I'm giving you five minutes to stop the bleeding before we continue." Ivan said, cleaning his knife with the edge of his black shirt. Lovino froze.

"N-no more, p-please..." He begged, slowly taking the cloth. Ivan grabbed his free hand, forcing it to press hard up against his wound. He cried out, but was forced to keep pressure on it by Ivan's hand. He tried to control his cries as his ears, which were usually perked with interest, were flattened against his head.

Ivan leaned up against the wall next to him, keeping his word and patiently waiting five minutes. Once the savored moments of peace were gone Ivan kicked off the wall, walking over and yanking his hand off of his wound, re-chaining his hand over his head.

"Alright, the national flower for Italy is a Bougainvillea, da?" Ivan asked, grinning and gently pressing the tip of the knife up against his skin, earning a few lone drops of the crimson liquid to slowly surface. Lovino felt his tears begin again, it didn't even take pain this time, just the mere thought of what was about to come. Ivan didn't need an answer, he simply dug the knife in again, not quite as deep, which would help make the cuts much cleaner and precise looking. He guided the knife down from the top of his shoulder, swirling it down his side.

Lovino screamed in agony, writhing away the best he could and trying to prevent more pain. However Ivan continued to draw the vine like flower down his side, like it actually was creeping along his skin. "A-ahh... P-plea...se... stop!" he begged, choking over his own words. The pain was blinding him and he soon ceased any noises at all, his eyes were half lidded and his mouth was slightly agape in a silent scream. But he couldn't form a noise, only a few weak squeaks when the knife was dug in deeper.

Finally Ivan finished, and he pulled back with a content smile. He pulled his phone out again, snapping another photo before dropping it in his pocket.

"I hope you had as much fun as I did." He said merrily, pocketing the knife. He undid the chains holding Lovino to the wall and he immediately dropped, trying his best to look up at him without crying in pain. Tears still slowly trickled down his cheeks, but his sobs had ceased.

"T-tell A-Antonio... s-some...thing..." Lovino choked out, his breathing rapid, "T-tell h-him I..." His sentence could not be completed as his eyes fluttered shut and he fell unconscious once again.

*Francis*

After reassuring Antonio that they'd get the Italian back, Francis was forced to return home to attend to his own Mafia's needs. He entered his home slowly, sighing and running a hand through his perfect shoulder length blond hair. This was bad, he knew that Ivan was planning on destroying Antonio mentally to get to Ludwig, even if it had been a mess up and he'd gotten the wrong twin, Ludwig would blame himself until the day he died if anything happened. He walked into his study, dropping his jacket onto the coat hanger before sitting down in his desk and closing his eyes for a moment.

He finally re-opened them, trying his best to focus on work, which was impossible. Thankfully though his little lover popped through the doorway.

"Bonjour Francis, you're back!~" Matthew said shyly but happily, peeping his head out from behind the doorway. Francis looked up at him from his notes, a pin still in his mouth from where he'd been chewing on it.

"Matthieu..." He said softly, standing up and walking to him quickly, enveloping him in his arms tightly as he reached him. He buried his face in his lovers soft hair, kissing his forehead again and again. "It's good to see you..." He whispered. _What if it had been him? What if my precious Matthieu was stolen?_ He wondered, not releasing his grip from him.

Matthew was surprised by the sudden display of affection, but figured he'd just had a bad meeting and wrapped his arms tightly around his waist, hugging him back.

"Francis, did something happen today?" The Canadian asked softly against his chest, where he'd nuzzled comfortably into his arms. He was worried for him, the Frenchman was usually a bit... cheerier than right now, when he seemed like he'd just killed someone.

"...Oui, Antonio's... acquaintance was kidnapped last night, and it's just... He's really in bad shape..." Francis mumbled, not knowing how to phrase it. Were they friends, boyfriends, lovers? Matthew slowly nodded, he couldn't really feel bad for whoever got taken, he didn't know them. But he did feel bad for Antonio whom always invited him in whenever Francis had to go away for a weekend and he was lonely.

"I'm sure he'll be fine..." Matthew whispered, slowly pulling back and looking happily up into his eyes. "It's good to see you again, I know you just got back from a meeting late last night, and then you had to rush out early this morning. So do you want to go lay down, maybe?" He asked hopefully, wanting to curl up with the Frenchman very badly after missing on cuddling last night. Francis nodded, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Oui, I think rest would be good." He said softly, allowing the Canadian to take his hand and guide him back to their bedroom. Francis sat on the bed with the intention in laying down right then and there, but Matthew giggled.

"You can't sleep with all your cloths on Francis." He chuckled, kneeling down and helping tug his shoes off before ridding himself of his own. He sat on the bed next to his Frenchmen, reaching up and untying his tie, then unbuttoning the top few buttons on his shirt. Francis smiled thankfully, laying back once he was done and tugging Matthew along with him. He curled up under the covers, and Matthew smiled at him, laying on his side to face him. Francis leaned up, stealing the Canadians lips with his own. He pulled him in for a slow and sweet chaste kiss, before pulling back and leaning against the pillow.

"Sleep well Francis." Matthew cooed, kissing his forehead and laying his head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. Slowly Francis nodded off, hugging his precious lover close.

**Author's Note: Hey, I'm sorry that half this chapter is Lovi being injured, but I really got into it without even noticing. I know, random Franada! But I love it so! And don't worry, no more torture for Lovi, he'll get saved soon! **

**In addition, I got a *cough cough* very... nice (?) two reviews from someone, and I'd just like to clear the air now. Yes, I do know that there is not a "Prussia" nation today, but being a strong Prussian fan, I would like to revolt against history and say there is. So no, I won't be changing it to anything, I BELIEVE THAT PRUSSIA STILL LIVES. Also, I totally zone out during school, so my bad for not knowing EVERY...LITTLE...THING about writing. But thank you anyways for the review dude! Please review everyone, they are my love.**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS!**

**-Alice**


	7. Strong

Chapter 7 Strong

Lovino groaned in pain, his vision blurred every time he managed to find consciousness, but this time he refused to fall asleep again. It was a day or so after the knife had carved flowers into him, and after the Russian had left Lovino he had fainted, but the second he had woken up again he'd sobbed until his throat was raw. And now all he could think about was Antonio, who wasn't coming to save him. Ivan had said so, he said he'd sent those photos and an address, yet the Spaniard hadn't even bothered. That was what stung his heart the most, the fact that he'd flat out not even responded. The Italian curled up the best he could with all the pain, keeping his eyes closed tightly, praying that somehow it'd all end soon, one way or the other.

Often he would hear footsteps from the other side of the thick metal door, and he'd lay as still as possible and pretend to be asleep, Ivan never seemed to wake him when he was sleeping. Lovino had figured that it was Ivan's own sick way of making people feel at home, more trapped. Almost like he was saying, "I'll give you all the time in the world to sleep, because you're mine."

Lovino could hear almost everything from his little cell, pipes surrounded his dungeon near the ceiling, and he could hear every little drip of a leaky pipe, or every step of the people above him. He had first found it annoying, but after a while, the rhythmic 'splat splat' sound from the water became like a metronome, lulling him off into his own little world. He heard footsteps approach the door and creak it open, immediately Lovino shut his eyes and forced his breathing to slow a bit more than normal. Through cracked eyes, he saw Ivan's amethyst eyes peek through the door, then they disappeared and he was gone, closing the door behind him. Lovino knew that Ivan knew he wasn't actually asleep, but he was playing a game, giving him space ad time to think about the fact that no one was coming to save him.

Lovino slid his eyes back open, sighing tiredly, he was so tired of all of this; all of the pain. He had almost given up, he was about to break. He opened his mouth ever so slightly, his voice coming out in less than a whisper, "Please god, let me die."

*Antonio*

After another day of not hearing from the Russian, and Antonio was trying not to break down and kill someone. He felt so utterly helpless, and he hated it. He hated how he was the leader of a mafia, yet he couldn't do a thing, not one to bring his precious Lovino home. And he had something to tell Lovino too, he did and the second he saw him, he had to tell him. Because life was too short to wait, this entire scenario had proved that.

Now the Spaniard sat down on the fountain outside, his eyes were trained lazily on one of the larger Koi, and he followed its path through the water. He had remembered Lovino doing that, and recently Antonio had found himself doing everything the neko had done, every step and every breath. He heard someone approaching yet did not turn around, everyone had been trying to keep him company and keep him happy recently, but in all honesty all it was doing was annoying him. Every time Gilbert or Francis sat and tried to talk about things before he'd met Lovino, he just wanted to scream at them. He had been like that a lot recently, he'd wanted to kick a lot actually.

"Bonjour." He heard Francis behind him and he nodded, barely acknowledging him. The Frenchmen didn't say anything more, rather sat down next to him, looking down at the water as well. "Lovino is similar to a Koi in my opinion." Francis finally said in a soft voice. Antonio looked up at him tiredly, the black bags under his eyes evident.

"How so?" He asked, peering at him questioningly.

"Koi are beautiful fish, but they're brightly colored so lots of things are after them. They have to be strong and smart to survive, just like Lovino. He's lived through all of this, he'll be fine Tonio, he'll be just fine because he's so strong." Francis half whispered, he was talking now. He knew that he hadn't even met the neko, but he just had a feeling that he was strong, one couldn't live in this world like he did without being strong.

Antonio looked at his friend wearily, then nodded slowly, the smallest of smiles playing on his lips, "Si, I'm sure you're right." He agreed, looking back to the fountain. The silence they shared was a comfortable one, and when it finally ended Francis had to leave to attend to mafia matters. He left Antonio alone again, thankfully, and let the hopeful words sink into him. He couldn't help but hold his phone in his hand, he didn't want to miss a message from Ivan, he was eager to get Lovino back safe and sound.

And then his phone buzzed.

Antonio felt his heart skip a beat, and he flipped it open. No more pictures, just words which he was thankful for, maybe that meant he hadn't done anything else to Lovi.

'Had enough?' It read. Antonio took a breath.

'Yes, please, please give him back.' He replied, willing to do anything.

'Alright, let's play a game.' Came the reply.

Antonio had nothing to say to this, he just remained silent, staring at the small screen of his phone intensely. He waited for a moment, then another text came in, slightly longer this time.

'I was planning on taking the German mafia, but yours will serve. Give the Spanish mafia over to me, and your precious little kitty may come back in one piece.'

Antonio stared down at the text, his heart raced and his breathing was flittery. He didn't know what to do, could he actually give up his mafia? He had loyal people, followers, and members of the mafia who'd do anything under his word. He loved his mafia, and before Lovi had come into his life, he actually used to have weekly meetings with a few of the members, meet up, drink beer and gamble. "Could I?" He wondered aloud, they were almost more than his family.

'I'm waiting.' Another text said. Antonio felt his entire form shaking slightly, what to do?!

"It's Lovino…." Antonio whispered, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them. Instead of replying, he hit the call button. He didn't know what he was expecting, for him not to pick up? After the second ring, the he picked up and a husky Russian voice answered.

"I assume you're calling to tell me yes, da?" He asked cheerily.

"Si…." Antonio grumbled, "But I want Lovino first, give him back now." He said, standing up from his perched position on the fountain.

"I think not, we will set up a time and a place to meet, and you will sign the mafia over to me. And then you'll get your little Italian back, da?" He said merrily.

"N-no, how can I be assured that you just won't kill him?" Antonio asked, his voice starting to waver ever so slightly.

"Oh you can't, you just get to hope he lives long enough for you to save him." He replied.

"B-but…." Antonio mumbled, beginning to walk back to his room.

"No 'buts'," He said, then spoke the address. "Don't be late, tomorrow at 7." He said merrily, then hung up. Antonio was now in his room, and suddenly, he flung his phone at the wall with all his force.

"Maldito!" he shouted in anger, "This is all so fucked up!" He proclaimed, stomping over to his bed and sitting down, putting his head in his hands. He closed his eyes, sighing tiredly.

The world was moving slower than it ever had, he only had roughly 24 hours to go before he got to go save Lovino, but every second was slowed, he was so close to Lovi. Finally, the smallest of ideas popped into his head and he walked over to his phone, picking it up. Praise the lord that thing was similar to a Nokia, it only had a crack on the screen. He dialed the familiar number of his cohorts, waiting until one picked up.

"Chico's, we need to plan."

*One day later*

After much preparation and planning, Antonio had decided what to do to get Lovino back, he was going to give up the mafia. Because Lovino meant that much to him, he couldn't live with himself if he let Lovi get hurt more. So now he was dressed in simple black pants, and a white v neck, showing off the cross necklace he always wore. He had debated on what to wear actually, worrying that Ivan would think he brought a weapon with anything too bulky on, and kill Lovino.

He was sitting in the back of a car now, one of his mafia members driving. He was going to drive himself, but his hands had been shaking so badly he'd finally asked him for assistance. He had his hands in his lap, folded nicely. What was he supposed to be doing; loading a gun? He knew Ivan would kill Lovi if he even dared. The drive way maybe an hour long, and when they pulled up he wasn't really surprised to see an abandoned warehouse; how stereotypical. He told the man in the front seat to wait, and he slid out of the car wordlessly. He walked in the large open garage door, and saw the place was full of steel, and abandoned steel factory.

"Hola?" He called out slowly, walking in the large place. It was exceedingly crowded in the place with steel, steel beams, polls, you name it. It was hard to see anything, until he came to a clearing, where all of the steel had been pushed away to clear a space. There Ivan stood, or who he presumed was Ivan, since they'd never met. Antonio's green eyes searched him for a moment, before looking down behind him. His eyes widened in panic and he took a quick step forward, seeing someone laying on the ground behind him.

"Lovino!" He cried out, trying to get closer, until he heard the deadly sound of a cocking gun. He looked back up to Ivan, to see a gun pointed directly at him.

"Not another step, da?" He asked in a childish and cheery voice, yet his index finger was holding onto the trigger, threatening to pull.

Antonio sucked in a breath, and his eyes went back to Lovino. For a terrible instant, he thought he was dead, but then he saw the slightest twitch of his caramel colored ears, and the smallest rise and fall of his chest. He was snapped out of his daze as a pen and paper, both rolled up together with a rubber band was tossed at him. It hit his chest, then dropped to the floor with a small thud. He looked up at Ivan, who had thrown it with his spare hand.

"Papers, sign the mafia over to me, you get little kitty back, da?~" He cooed, not moving an inch from his spot. Antonio slowly kneeled down, next taking his eyes off of Lovino as he unrolled the papers, sparing a glance at them. There was no need for Ivan to bother with lying, they were indeed telling Antonio to sign over his mafia, his control, his connections, and all the members. Looking to the bottom, he messily scrawled his name, then trying to be as calm as he could, he tied them back up, and rolled them over his way.

"T-there, now give him back." He said softly, standing back up slowly and looking Ivan into his lilac eyes fearfully. Ivan never lowered his gun as he walked forward a few steps and picked it up, his eyes scanning over it before grinning.

"I'm going to walk out of here, and you will not move an inch, an _inch_ until you hear a car pull away. Are we clear?" He asked, already beginning to walk towards the exit backwards, his eyes narrowed and the gun still held. Antonio could barely manage a nod, now that he was so close to Lovino, there was not a thought in the world about following Ivan.

The Russian disappeared from view, and Antonio was forced to wait a few excruciating minutes until he heard a car drive off to make a mad dash over to Lovino. He dropped to his knees next to the little Italian, tears pooling in his eyes when he saw him again. He had blood all over him, all his own. His eyes were closed and is breathing was shallow and ragged.

"Lovino…." He whispered, his hands were shaking so much; he didn't have the slightest idea what to do first. He quickly settled on picking him up, which he did carefully. He cradled the unconscious Italian close to his chest as he almost ran back to the car. He crawled into the back seat again, the tears never leaving his emerald eyes as he looked down at Lovi. The man driving didn't ask a single question, to see his boss in such a state. Well, he would always be his boss, no matter what. Plus, they already had a plan.

He drove home quickly, sparing a glance back at his boss once or twice. Antonio had moved Lovino so he was sitting criss cross, and Lovino was curled up in his arms. He had tried to do something about the blood, but whenever he touched them, a pained expression would cross across his unconscious face, and he had stopped immediately. He decided they'd have to wait until they got home to help him.

What seemed like hours later the car pulled up, and Antonio hopped out of the car, taking Lovino along with him carefully. The Italian looked as breakable as glass, and it nearly killed Antonio. Thankfully, everyone had cleared out of the house for the day, knowing that the two needed to be alone. Antonio walked into his room slowly, and sat on the bed once he got in. He lay the Italian down on the soft covers, reaching under the bed for the first aid and then resurfacing. He walked around to the other side of the bed then crawled on; sitting next to Lovino as he carefully began to examine the extent of the wounds.

When he saw the design carved into his side, and the name on his hip, silent tears finally rolled down his cheeks. _'P-poor Lovino. He had gone through so much... so much t-that I was responsible for…'_ He thought as the tears continued to fall. He worked silently, starting by dampening a cloth and beginning to wipe away the blood. Easier said than done, most of it was dried so it clung it his skin, and whenever he tried to press a little harder to get it off, Lovi would whimper quietly in his sleep. However he finally managed to get it all off, and he looked down at the cuts. At first they had looked quite messy, but no, they were clean precision cuts, all very thin. But they must of hurt like hell, and Antonio knew it.

Next he began on the name on his hip. This one was a tad messier, like that sick, twisted bastard hadn't gotten used to the feeling of cutting into someone's skin yet, or he wanted to cause as much pain as possible. Antonio had finally managed to stop crying, and silently worked on the cuts, stopping whenever pain crossed his face. And then there were the whip marks on his back. As gently as possible, Antonio flipped him over onto his stomach, looking at his back slowly. It was hard to tell how many there were, but they looked painful.

Just as he placed a cloth on the top of one, beginning to clean it, the Italian's eyes slowly opened. Antonio felt his breath hitch and his hand froze, scared to alarm him. By the look of it Lovino still thought he had been with Ivan, and then he blinked once, looking up at Antonio with suddenly fearful and wide eyes.

"Lovino…." He said softly, smiling down at him. He raised a hand to run through his hair, but the Italian flinched away with a little cry of terror. "Lovi, it's just me." He said softly, looking down at him sadly, but keeping his hands to himself. The Italian looked up at him fearfully, forgetting who he was for a moment. Antonio paused everything he was doing, and slowly lay down on his stomach; turning his head to the side to face Lovino and so he could have eye contact with him. He wanted to reach out and take his hand, but by the way Lovino was looking at him, that wasn't going to happen.

"Do you remember me Lovi?" He asked after a moment, keeping his voice soft. After a moment, Lovino nodded in response, not willing to reply vocally. "Then you know I'll never hurt you right?" He asked. This time Lovino had to think, then he slowly nodded. Antonio dared to reach out again, and lightly place a hand on his head, petting his hair and ears gently. Lovino tensed for a moment, and then relaxed a bit.

Antonio sat back up, keeping his hand on his head for another moment, and then slowly sliding down his neck, and to his shoulder. There he stopped, then removed his hand.

"Can I help with your wounds, por favor?" He asked quietly. At the memory of the wounds, Lovino's eyes widened slightly and he shook his head in fear. But then Antonio looked at him with those eyes, those eyes that a week ago, Lovino would have melted at. And he still did, because he nodded slowly, scooting an inch closer to him to give him more access to his back. Antonio smiled softly and thanked him, beginning to clean off the blood. He was as gentle as possible, and Lovino only felt a small amount of pain once or twice.

Once he was done, he began to bandage all of the cuts carefully, making sure not to wrap any one too tight. His fingers lightly grazed over his soft skin, and he felt terrible for Lovino, all of these would leave scars, surely.

"Alright Lovi, I'm done." He said softly, wishing that he could just come out and say it; 'I love you'. But now was most certainly not the time. Lovi looked up at him, then placed his hands on either side of his self, trying desperately to push himself into a sitting position. He whimpered in pain, it hurt terribly, yet he wanted to get closer to Antonio; so badly. Antonio was quick to stop him by wrapping his arms around him slowly, helping him up but only to be engulfed by a hug.

Lovino blushed ever so slightly as he allowed his body to be relaxed, and he leaned up against the Spaniard. Antonio was careful to avoid each and every cut as he hugged him to his chest. Lovino closed his eyes, trying to get it through his head that he was back; safe. But he couldn't grasp the concept, he was sure Ivan was hiding somewhere, waiting until Antonio released him from his muscular and protective arms.

Antonio could feel him tense up against him, and he slowly moved so he was laying back up against the pillows a bit more and so Lovino could lay back. He leaned his head forward a bit, whispering, "You're safe Lovi, I promise." Lovino looked up at him tiredly, and shivered a bit at the cold of the room. Antonio reached down, drawing the covers up to his chin. He looked back into his eyes as he tucked the covers around him, and then slowly, leaned forward and gently brushed his lips up against the Italians forehead.

"A-Ant…tonio?" He asked, his voice dry and scratchy. Antonio noted this and reached over, grabbing a glass of water (Ludwig had known that he would be needing that and the first aid kit and placed them there earlier). He held it to Lovino's lips, getting him to take small sips of the water until it was almost all gone. He then looked down into his eyes slowly, having set the glass down on the table.

"Si?" He asked slowly, laying back down so he was eye level with him again.

"W-why am I here? H-he said you d-didn't care…" His words barely came out as a whisper as he looked into his eyes, the fear of being harmed emotionally loomed in his gaze. Antonio looked down at him, shock on his face.

"He lied, I do care Lovi, I care so much." He said, hating Ivan for even daring to say that.

"Y-you do?" He asked, Antonio could see tears welling in his eyes, and the moon from the large window behind him magnified the shimmer in his eyes.

"I more than care Lovi, I…" He looked down at him, wondering if he should say it. On one hand, Lovino was exhausted both physically and mentally, but on the other hand, Antonio didn't think he could hold it in much longer. Finally deciding, he leaned down and whispered, "I love you."

**Author's Note: WOO HOO, confession time finally! Well anyhow, sorry for getting this all out so late, I got a new computer for Christmas, (compared to my old one, where the keys had lost their letters and the keys were falling off) and I was learning how to use it. Anyways, no this is not the end. I promised smut to the requester, and smut there shall be! That and Antonio handed his mafia over, so they'll have to get that back. But anyhow sorry if posts get a bit slower, lots of personal crap and school crap. But anyways, please comment, and I hope you enjoyed!~**

**(EARLY) HAPPY NEW YEARS!**


	8. Healing the wounds

Author's note: Oh lord, I am so sorry this took me that long. I just applied for this fancy writing center in my state, and there are only four spots, and sixty four people applying; so I really had to perfect all my applications. Like I said, really sorry that it took me so damn long, I'll try to rush on my other story as well, for those of you who are reading Just the Beginning. I really feel bad for not getting this out sooner, but please enjoy; and comment if it's not too much trouble! (I also applied for three boarding schools out of state, so that required a lot of driving.)

Chapter 8  Healing the wounds

"I love you." The words echoed in the Italian's head for more than a few minutes as he stared blankly at the Spaniard. Conflicting emotions fought behind his hazel eyes, and he bit his lip gently. Was Antonio telling the t-truth? No, he couldn't be, there was no way. Slowly, Lovino pushed away from him, a look of uncertainty filling his eyes.

"N-no…" He mumbled almost incoherently, not believing the words. Antonio's eyes dimmed a bit, and he looked over to him with desperation lurking in his eyes.

"Lovi, I-" He tried to speak to argue and persuade him; he loved him so much it hurt.

"No." He said again simply, with a pang of hurt in his tone. He slipped out of the Spaniards arms slowly, not wanting to be near him, that liar. Of course he had to know exactly how to play the Italian's feelings… Lovino had to force those thoughts into his mind as he curled up on the opposite side of the bed, as far away as possible from the Spaniard. He knew he was in no condition to move, his entire body was sore and surely the cuts were just now scabbing over.

Antonio felt like smacking himself, how stupid, how foolish of him to bring that up. Of course Lovi couldn't even deal with that right now… Yet he'd done it anyways, Antonio just _had_ to act like his usual, go lucky, everything-will-be-just-fine, _stupid_ self. He'd just ruined it all, damn… and as much as he wanted to try to talk to Lovi about it, he knew that the poor Italian was beyond tired.

"Alright Lovi, g'night…" he said sadly, propping himself up on one elbow to watch over the other. Of course Antonio had no intention of sleeping at all that night, no, he was going to watch over the Italian. Even if Lovi was angry, upset, or hurt by Antonio, surely he wouldn't object to having a bit of protection over the night.

Lovino didn't reply to him, rather he huffed softly and curled up on himself more. He tugged the covers up to his shoulders and forced his eyes shut. As confused and hurt as he was, he wasn't frightened of Antonio, by no means. Lovi let his mind wander a bit, trailing around and wondering what would happen tomorrow. He wanted to leave, all of these feelings crowding his heart were confusing, and they made him want to cry. And god knows he'd cried too much, well, he thought that anyways. Finally, he managed to drift off into the most restless of sleeps, and he tossed and turned hundreds of times. His eyes often fluttered open every hour or so; only to see darkness.

Antonio remained awake the entire night, though several times he'd almost fallen off the bed he was so damn tired. But no, he'd already messed up too much, he wasn't going to fall asleep and make the Italian wake up alone the next morning.

Finally, the next morning rolled around, the sun seeped through the drapes and showered down on the sleeping Italian. During the last few hours of the night, Lovino had managed to get a bit of a better sleep, that is of course right after he had –in his sleep- curled up closer to Antonio. Now his caramel eyes slowly fluttered open, and he blinked a few times before he realized his position. The Italian had wrapped his arms around Antonio's torso for dear life, and had snuggled close to him. His ears were twitching comfortably to each little sound, and his tail swished back and forth on the sheets behind him. Of course Antonio was smiling down to him happily, one of his arms wrapped comfortably around the Italian's waist.

Instantly, Lovi planted his hands against Antonio's chest and pushed himself as far away as possible, glaring up to him. "Don't do that…" He commanded, frowning up to him.

"Do what?" Antonio asked softly, tilting his head.

"Sneak up on me like that… God, scared me half to death…" He mumbled, feeling a bit back to himself. He looked over to Antonio after a moment of glaring to his feet, wondering what the other was thinking. Maybe about last night? Lovino really did have a few questions he wanted the other to answer, but had already decided not to ask, they were too embarrassing.

Antonio looked over to him with a soft smile hanging on his lips, deciding just to nod in reply to the other. "Si, alright…." He replied with, sitting up and letting the sheets pool to his waist. He hopped out of the bed, shivering as the cool floor greeted his bare feet. Hurriedly, he walked over to his wardrobe and picked out a simple white collared shirt, remembering that the Italian wasn't wearing a shirt.

He walked back over to the bed with a smile, sitting down on the edge of the bed and reaching over to hand it to him. Lovi eyed the shirt suspiciously before taking it and sitting up, hastily tugging the shirt on over his frail frame. Still, the Italian didn't say a word at all, all he did was hastily button up his shirt to hide the skin. Then again, there were so many bandages covering him, at the moment there really wasn't much skin to show.

Antonio bit his lip gently, looking out the window quietly. He had a few things he wanted- needed to say to Lovino.

"Um… Lovi?" He asked slowly, looking over to him with an uncertain glance. Lovino gave him a glare so strong that Antonio looked away hastily, then shook his head slowly. "Nevermind.." He mused, rising to his feet again silently. "I'll go make breakfast, si?" He asked, smiling a bit as he asked the other.

"Si…" Lovi said quietly, his beautiful accent magnified as he said so. Antonio nodded, giving him a small smile as he walked out of the room. So many thought were zooming through the Spaniards head. How could he have been so _stupid _to say that last night? Right when Lovino was tired, confused, frightened… Antonio just HAD to be a dumb-ass and confess that he _loved _him!?

"Damn…" Antonio said softly, gritting his teeth as he walked into the kitchen idly. He didn't want to hurry, rather he wanted to give Lovino all the time in the world to think. Was he mad? Confused, scared, pissed off? Probably all of them, and Antonio felt obligated to give him whatever he needed.

He turned the stove on almost absentmindedly as he walked to the fridge, grabbing all sorts of things. For a good thirty minutes he strolled around the kitchen, accidentally burning the bacon the first time around, having to start over. Finally though he was walking back to the room in which he had left Lovi. He slipped into the room, walking over and taking a seat next to him.

"Here you are~" He said with a kind smile, handing him the plate and setting the glass of orange juice on the bedside table gently.

"Grazie…" Lovi mused, taking the plate without further comment. He had had plenty of time to think about last night, about the past few weeks really. He had been - all of that had really happened… He'd been kidnapped, stolen away from the man he had been sure he was falling for. He'd been told that Antonio didn't care, he thought he was a waist of space, and that he was _never _coming to get him. Maybe that was why last night he'd been so visibly upset. He hadn't expected that, not the fact that Antonio -sweet, charming, cheery- Antonio loved him. The two sat in silence, Lovino would occasionally glance over to Antonio, just to make sure he was still there. Usually the Spaniard was never so silent, so somber, sometimes Lovi wondered if he had simply left the room. But no, Antonio sat there silently, even though he thought that Lovino was angry at him, he didn't - couldn't bare to leave his side again. What if Ivan came back?

"So… Mafia boss, huh?" Lovino finally spoke up, bringing to light the one or two questions he had for the other. He'd heard Ivan speaking to a light haired brown boy about it all, though he'd never gotten an answer. Antonio looked over to him in surprise, not expecting for Ivan to have told him. Then again, whatever made Lovi trust him less, Antonio was sure Ivan said to the little Italian.

"O-oh… Si, I am…" He muttered almost inaudibly, looking over to the window quietly. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing softly, it looked like a beautiful day. If only he could enjoy it outside with Lovino…

"Hm… Interesting." He stated rather simply, his tail swishing back and forth on the sheets adorably as he set the now empty plate on the bed stand. Yes, yes… Lovino knew that that was not the reaction Antonio had been expecting. But, what was there to say? Antonio hadn't _lied _to him, so he couldn't be mad. He didn't not say it to hurt him, only to keep him safe. He knew that Antonio didn't get him involved of any dangerous stuff, to the best of his ability anyways. So he knew he couldn't get angry at him…

"..Si.." Antonio said softly, feeling a strong aching in his heart. He hated lying to Lovino in the first place, or rather, not telling him the truth instantly. He had a reason of course, though it sounded stupid in his head. _I only wanted to protect him…_ Plus, Lovino had come into his life so fast, one day he'd just been… strolling down a black market, and now he was completely and utterly head over heels for an Italian who seemingly hated him.

"So? What does that even mean?" Lovi questioned, slowly pushing himself into more of a sitting position as he pulled his knees into his chest a bit. He could feel a stinging pain in his chest, and waist where the still fresh and mending cuts were, and he tried not to move too much.

"Oh… Um…" Antonio thought for a good way to describe it. "I guess you could say I'm in charge of a lot of people is all… Sometimes we work together to solve issues in Spain, maybe send a few people to different countries to spy and all…" He didn't have a good term for it. They really did spy, they did work under the governments nose, but it's not like they were bad.

"Alright…" Lovi mused, his arms wrapped around his legs as he bit his lip gently. He was trying to grasp the whole concept, he wanted to be able to understand Antonio, not just what he appeared to be on the outside. Antonio acted clueless to everything, even the first time Lovino ever got to see him. He looked so innocent to the world, like he only saw the goodness in everybody. But surely, someone who owned a mafia was a tad more complex then that?

"Si…" Antonio mused, having no idea what to say. He wanted to say so much more, he wanted to explain everything to Lovi, about Ludwig, about all the mafias, and why he'd been taken by Ivan…

"I'm going outside." Lovino said rather simply, deciding this on the spot.

"Oh? Alright, but are you sure you can walk?" Antonio asked a bit doubtfully. Lovino shrugged, not really giving it thought. He couldn't stand the eeriness of the room, nor the somber expression on Antonio's features. Silently Lovino scooted over to the edge of the bed, wincing at the pain all over his torso. He could tell already that this whole walking thing was going to be difficult.

Still, he placed his feet firmly on the ground, and pushed himself to his feet. For a terrible moment he thought he was going to fall. His entire body swayed as his vision almost went black for half a moment, all the blood rushing after not standing for so long.

Antonio watched with concerned eyes, his eyebrows furrowing in worry as he watched the neko's tail sway in an almost panicked motion. Finally though he steadied, his hand moving to firmly plant itself up against a wall to help stable himself.

"Lovino…" Antonio said in a worried tone, not advising that he tried to walk. "I don't think you should be-"

"Shut up." Lovino snapped back for the first time, he'd never snapped at the other so harshly before. Antonio blinked, then closed his mouth.

Lovi glanced over to him with an irritated look, feeling frustrated at himself for looking so weak in front of the Spaniard. His ears were flattened against his head in a hissy manor, and his tail had wrapped tightly around his own waist. After a few moments of almost falling when he tried to walk, he was slowly stumbling out of the room.

A pair of worried emerald eyes followed him the entire way, until the tip of the Italian's tail was out of sight.

"Why won't you let me help?…" Antonio asked softly once he'd left the room, already knowing the answer to his question. He'd hidden the truth, he'd let Ivan hurt him…. He didn't deserve to be around Lovino.

After another moment of senseless brooding, Antonio rose to his feet and idly strolled down the halls. He passed a large window, pausing at the glass when his eyes settled on Lovino.

The little Italian had curled up on the edge of the fountain, tail swishing back and forth slowly across the water, his soft hazel eyes tracking the koi in the water. His knees were pulled into his chest slightly, but it was easy to see that the motion was hurting him. Still, Lovino was being stubborn. He didn't want to go inside and face Antonio, who was probably mad about him snapping at him. He knew he should go in and apologize, but he couldn't bear to look at Antonio. Only because Ivan had reminded him of someone. Of his previous owners, who'd hit him and push him up against a wall whenever they pleased. Maybe he was scared all over again, he felt as far away from the Spaniard as he had when they'd first met.

By this time, Antonio had realized it was a tad stalkerish to just stand there and look at the adorable neko, and had absentmindedly wandered to his study. Soon, the phone rang, and he picked it up.

"Hola?" He said quietly into the phone, pinching the bridge of his nose tiredly.

"Hallo Antonio, it's Ludwig." Came a strong German accent from the other end of the line. Antonio perked up a bit, only because it seemed like Ludwig was one person he could talk to at the moment.

"Ludwig, it's good to hear from you.." He said softly into the phone, leaning back in his chair, letting his eyes slip shut as he focused on the conversation.

"It's good to hear from you too. Feliciano was worried, and he wanted me to call to make sure Lovino was alright…" Ludwig said into the phone, glancing to the cheery Italian who was sitting in his lap at the moment, resting his head on his chest.

"Oh, si… He's alright, just taking a breath of fresh air…" Antonio informed with a little smile, hearing a cheery Italian on the other end of the phone making a small noise of joy.

"That's good to hear," Ludwig said, "Well, I just wanted to call and check in, and… apologize, once again. I got you two involved in this.." He said, ignoring as Antonio tried to tell him that it wasn't his fault. "That was all I was calling for, thanks, have a good day." And with that the German hung up the phone.

Antonio sighed softly, setting the phone on his desk and kicking his feet up onto the mahogany furniture, closing his eyes again.

"What am I going to do? Can I apologize to him?" Antonio wondered aloud, then made a decision. He rose to his feet, his eyes opening in the process. He couldn't let Lovi do this alone, he couldn't let him try to heal from what he went through alone.

Just as he opened the doors to his study, an Italian walked in, running into his chest. Lovino yelped in surprise, hopping back and looking up to him in surprise.

"L-Lovino!" Antonio said in surprise, not having seen him. "I was just coming to find you." He said in a softer tone, smiling down to him.

"Oh? So was I…"He mused, running a hand through his unruly coffee hair, avoiding his ears.

"Oh? Well, let's talk over lunch. I'll go make us something if you want to go wait in your room." He said with a kind smile, and finally the other spared a glance up to him.

"Alright, that sounds good…" He said quietly, fidgeting and trying not to bring up what he had originally came to ask. As much as he just wanted to forget about it, the cuts on his hip were hurting terribly, burning in a torturous way. He had been hoping that Antonio could try and help, it seemed that his gentle hands always had a way with making pain go away.

"I'll be there soon, one minute~" Antonio said, smiling kindly down to him for the first time that day. Even with that, Lovi felt a bit better as he nodded, quietly walking back down the hall. He tried not to show it, but it was now obvious to him he should not have tried to get out of bed. True, he could do it, but it hurt like hell. Soon he was lying back on his bed, his tail curled around his waist as he patiently waited.

Soon the Spaniard was walking in with plates of food balanced on his hands, and he sat them down between them on the bed after taking a seat opposite him.

"Grazie." Lovi said with a little attempted smile, not having smelled anything that good in a while. Antonio nodded simply.

The two ate in silence, just like in the older days they were enjoying the others presence. Once Antonio had found a pair of questioning hazel eyes looking over to him, but by the time he had looked up, the other had been looking at his own food again. Finally they finished, and Lovi looked over to Antonio tentatively.

"A…Antonio?" He asked, biting his lip as he glanced over.

"Si?"

"I.. uhm.." He didn't know what to say, but the burning had gotten worse. "Could you look at one of the cuts? It's burning really b-badly.." He stuttered over the last word, feeling a jolt of pain. Instantly, concern filled the Spaniards face as he nodded.

"Si, of course." He replied, reaching under the bed to the bandages.

Lovino knew the drill, he lay back quietly on the bed and hesitantly pulled his shirt up a bit so the other could see the bandages covering the wound. Before Antonio got close, he just let his eyes flutter shut as he tried not to think about anything. Antonio sat on his knees next to him, his fingers gently working on getting the bandages off without hurting him.

The Italian then spared him a frightened glance. He didn't like the feel of being completely at mercy of someone else, of being underneath them. But then again, with Antonio he simply didn't feel any of that at all. His eyes slid back closed again as the Spaniard began to lay a cloth over it, applying a cream that would keep any infection away.

Soon enough Antonio was re-wrapping the wound, and letting the other sit up. Instead, Lovino reached over and tugged lightly on Antonio's sleeve, pulling him down so he could simply lay next to him. The Spaniard rested his head on the pillow beside Lovino's, looking over to him with sweet eyes. He didn't dare do anything completely stupid like last night, so he settled for staying there, occasionally saying something, hearing the sweet tune of Lovi's voice.

For now, getting to be around the person he cherished and loved was enough.

Author's Note: Oh my god, again I apologize for being so LATE on this. Three bloody months. But really guys, I have been SO busy, like, getting three hours of sleep a night. Please don't send dead babies to me in the mail ;~; (you get a cookie if you realize that reference). I know this is short, and doesn't have much in it. This is just kind of a foundation of thoughts and feelings. Long story short, I'm back guys. Most of the hard stuff I was doing is out of the way, so look forward to more updates~.


	9. Bonds can't be Broken

Author's note: I'm back, after a long while of getting five hours of sleep a night and studying for exams! (My apology is at the bottom for missing so long ;~; ) It's summertime! So I should be back on posting regularly. NEW RULE. I won't post until I get at least ten comments for every chapter~! I'm sorry if the font/spacing of this comes out weird. I typed it on an iPad and it's difficult to fix on my computer, so I rely on F.F's system to help me out. And it's my birthday on the 24th of June, so yay for me~ ^-^

**Chapter 9: Bonds can't be Broken **

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After Antonio had cleaned the littler ones wound, and after they'd lay down side by side; it had taken Lovino no time at all to fall into a light sleep. The pain that had resided in his hip the entire day from where the cut was had taken all of his energy, and for the first time that day, his body didn't ache terribly. That, and Antonio had been curled up safely next to him. The Italian had felt… safe, for one of the first times he hadn't been mortified of the lurking sensation that Ivan was near.

As the little Italian fell into sleep, he turned over into the covers, now facing the Spaniard. Antonio was still awake, looking over to the neko with a soft smile playing on his lips. His coffee ears drooped slightly, tail swishing back and forth lazily behind him on the sheets as he slept. Subconsciously, Lovino's body searched for heat, and he moved to bury his face in the Spaniards chest. His slender arms slid around his waist as his tail moved to wrap lightly around Antonio's leg, keeping the other held close and not giving him a choice in the matter. Antonio had thought this was positively adorable, and was now lightly toying with the others hair; his fingers combing through it slowly and avoiding his ears (and the suspicious curl). He could hear a little purr coming from the back of the Italians throat as he did this, and continued with the slow rhythm.

As he did this, the Spaniard had plenty of time to think about what would happen next. He had lost his mafia, something that as a young boy, he had been trained to save with his life. Each man that worked for him was not just some piece in a game, they were a person, a friend of his fathers. But he'd _sold _them to Ivan, for the safety of Lovino. Not that he'd changed his mind, he would save the Italian a million times over. But now came the hard part, he had to fight to get his mafia back.

Simple, no? Go get his mafia back? To Antonio, it was so much more complex than that. For one, Ivan was an opponent to be feared; and he had to keep his precious Lovino safe as well. He couldn't get anyone injured on his account, even though he knew that Ludwig would offer to help. He felt somewhat angry that neither Francis nor Gilbert were offering any help, but at the same time both of the mafia's they ran had just been in a gang war, of sorts, and were recovering from that still.

Antonio sighed softly, wrapping his free arm around Lovino's lithe waist as he rested his chin on top of the Italian's head, the tips of the neko's ears brushing against his cheeks.

"Dios… What am I going to do?"

~2 hours later~

After a while of getting much needed rest for his body, Lovino awoke to find he had his nose nuzzled into the Spaniard's chest, his tail wrapped tightly around Antonio's thigh, and he was purring softly; which he hardly ever did. Immediately, he felt a soft blush arise to his cheeks as he planted his hands up against his chest, and pushed away slightly. Not out of fear, or anger, more from embarrassment. He looked up to the Spaniard's face, seeing that there was a pair of emerald orbs already looking down to him.

"Hola Lovino, did you sleep well?" Said Antonio, a soft but cheery smile residing on his lips. Lovino nodded numbly in reply, slowly uncurling his tail as well as sitting up, using his hands (which were on the covers behind him) to help to push him up into a sitting position.

"Sí, I slept fine." He informed, still a bit unsure of the other. What was annoying, was he had no idea why he felt on edge. He trusted Antonio, he trusted him with his life. So, why did he feel so nervous? Why was it when Antonio touched him, or brushed up against him that he got all fidgety and blushy? Of course, the neko had never really felt a feeling like love, or compassion for another, so the fluttery feeling he got in his stomach confused him greatly.

"That's great, do you want me to make us dinner? It's getting late, the suns about to go down." Antonio looked over to the window as he spoke, looking at the magnificent colors that painted the horizon, the gold's and the oranges, and the deep reds that peeked over the mountains. Lovino thought for a moment, his stomach growling softly and deciding the food matter for him. A light blush crossed his cheeks before he nodded.

"… Sí, I suppose food would be fine.." He mused softly, turning his hips and swinging his legs over the bed, hopping out from underneath the covers and shivering lightly as his feet met the cold floor. The pain in his hip and side stung for a moment, the wounds still trying to heal. But, he ignored it and walked to the door, glancing back and waiting for Antonio to hop out of bed and follow.

The two walked silently down the hall, Lovino's ears perked up as he looked around the large house, as if he was re-memorizing the place. His tail was swishing back and forth idly behind him; the tip of his tail was a pure white fluff ball that was almost touching the ground.

"Lovi, you're welcome to go wait outside, until I get food prepared." Antonio offered, knowing the other loved the outback he had. The smaller one of them thought for a moment on the matter, before nodding his head.

"Alright… I'll be out back.." He said softly, taking a hallway down and walking to the back. As a soft breeze hit his face, combing through his soft auburn hair, Lovino realized quickly just how much he'd missed the place. A soft smile rested on his lips as he walked to look down at the koi in the pond, his hands lazily pawing at the surface of the water as his eyes followed the fish swimming just out of his reach.

Slowly, he rose to his feet and continued to meander around the place, eyes slightly wide as they ran over the familiar landscape. Wow… It amazed him how much of this place he remembered. Ever since he'd gotten back from Ivan's, it felt like everything was a blur. He couldn't remember exactly where things were, names, hallways; honestly it felt like his brain had a cloud hanging around, obscuring his vision. But here, here he could remember where every plant was, how many koi were in the pond, their colors; everything. He walked to the tree that he and Antonio had climbed, looking up at the high branches tentatively, before reaching for the lowest branch and slowly pulling himself up. It was worth the small pain he felt in his wounds, because soon he was sitting on the first branch up. Blossoms from the tree were blossoming around him, beautiful pinks, and light purples were spotted all around the world, well, all he could see.

The smile from earlier was still on his lips as he reached out to rub his fingers up against the rough bark, his feet swung back and forth idly in the air. Suddenly, something interesting caught his eye. A circle of the flowers, some slowly dying, their color fading, were hanging up just above. After a moment, he realized it to be the necklace he'd made weeks ago. Disbelief struck him, as he could have sworn that he'd hidden it up high in the trees. He had planned on giving it to Antonio… He'd just chickened out…

The neko stood up on a branch, his bare feet carefully grasping onto the bark as he extended his hand and reached up for the necklace. His fingertips brushed one of the flowers, before he grasped it and pulled it down. He held it at eye level, admiring how it seemed like the blooms hadn't faded that much yet, they were still beautiful. He took a seat back on the branch, looking down to the necklace in hand as he thought.

~20 minutes later~

Lovino's caramel ears perked up on top of his head as a voice floated through the air. After setting down the necklace, he hopped down from the tree, being careful not to slip on the damp bark. Once he was securely on the ground, he listened up again, this time clearly hearing the words.  
"Lovino~! Dinner time, amigo!" The words floated through the warm air, as did the smell of pasta, which made his nose twitch as he sniffed the divine smell.

"Be right there!" He called back in answer, seeing a head of curly brown hair and a pair of piercing jade eyes standing in the doorway a good ways away. And of course, the always beautiful wide smile as the Spaniard waited for the neko.

Lovino had started off in a little jog, but soon stopped because of a stinging pain in his hip, and he slowed to a walk. As he moved in closer to the other, he could only guess he'd made pasta from fresh, judging on the light layer of powdery flower that was on his darkly colored shirt, and a few specks on his cheeks. Lovino saw the smile on his cheeks widen as he neared, wondering why he made the other seem happier when he neared.

Usually, people just made a grossed out face when he got closer...

"C'mon amigo, we don't want it to get cold~" Antonio said in a warm and caring tone, reaching over and nonchalantly taking the neko's hand to guide him to the kitchen. The Spaniard didn't seem to notice it, but Lovi's face lit up several shades of red when he felt the warm and strong hand holding his.

Soon the adorable pair were walking into the dining room, their fingers still laced together loosely, the blush finally having left Lovino's cheeks. Just as thought, there were two bowls of freshly made, still steaming pasta next to each other, a bright red tomato sauce (most likely fresh tomatoes too), a glass of water, and to the Italians mutual surprise; a glass of red wine for each of them.

The Italian made a mental note not to drink too much, his tolerance for alcohol was not the best in the world. Rather, three glasses and he'd be voluntarily (happily) giving Antonio a lap dance. "Thanks for making dinner... It looks amazing.." He said quietly, walking over and taking a seat when the Spaniard pulled a chair out for him.

"No problemo~ Cooking is a lot of fun!" Antonio said joyously, taking a seat next to him. He raised the glass of the deep crimson liquid to his lips, taking a sip of it with a content sigh. "Dig in~!" He said happily after a moment, picking up his fork.

The neko followed in suit, picking up his fork and twirling some of the pasta around it. There was an awkward silence for a good five or ten minutes, Antonio thinking about what to do next, Lovino trying not to think about nothing at all because he was hopelessly lost in what was happening.

"So... Mafia huh?" Finally, the lithe Italian spoke. He didn't say it in an accusing way, or to be rude. He was simply curious as to what the Spaniard did for a living. Antonio's shoulders visibly tensed for half a second, before they relaxed and he took another bite of the delicious pasta.

"Sí, it was my padres job, y mi grandfathers... It goes through the family.." He explained, "It's not like all the movies, it's relatively normal... None of the guns and the huge gang fights..." The movies always made the mafias look like the bad guys. In a shell, the mafia was more like countries. They had reasons, motive, people, some were bad and some were good... It went on and on.

"Oh..." Lovino responded, trying to wrap his head around the idea of it all. It amazed him that he'd never thought to ask what Antonio did for a living...  
Antonio laughed sheepishly, similar to a nervous laugh. He nodded his head, clearing his throat then looking back down to his pasta.

Awkwarddddddd…

"Cool..." The smaller Italian finally said, glancing up to him with a nervous smile. To him, it sounded like a fun job to have. Then again, he had no idea how to handle any sort of power, he would most likely suck at the job.

Antonio glanced up, grinning like an idiot. "Cool? You think it's cool?" He asked with a huge smile, earning a little shy nod from the other. After the little breakthrough (Antonio had been secretly nervous the other would get angry with him from withholding information), the dinner became much more relaxed. They talked about the most random of things; Lovino drank a glass and a half of wine, which made his head buzz pleasantly. Thankfully though, he stopped himself there.

After the wonderful dinner, in which both of them had two servings, (and Lovi trying to clean the dishes out of habit), they both headed out back to the garden. Antonio could tell that the Italian enjoyed the cool weather, and the full moons bright glare.

"Wanna go sit in the tree?" Antonio questioned, looking over to the large cherry tree. He made a mental note not to climb as high as they had the time that he'd almost fallen.

"Sounds good to me..." Lovino walked over to the tree, gripping onto the rough bark of a low tree branch, hauling himself up onto the first branch. Antonio followed in suit, pulling himself up. The two sat on one of the lower branches, the rough bark scraping their palms slightly, not badly enough to actually hurt. Lovino's caramel tail wrapped around the tree tightly, to help himself hold on. His feet swung idly back and forth in the air beneath him, light hazel eyes looking amongst the light petals that were falling down slowly.

Antonio glanced over to the neko, eyes glued to him after a moment. The moonlight reflected off of him beautifully, his eyes shined, the little smile that made his lips curl upwards cast a shadow on a lower lip, and his coffee hair fell down in front of his eyes, which made Antonio want to brush it out of the way.

"Look what I found.." The Spaniard suddenly spoke, reaching upwards to gently grab the necklace of flowers, which amazingly, had flowers on them that had, for the most part, remained the bright and beautiful color; other than a few dying petals.

Lovino looked over to it, "Oh wow... It's still blooming.." He said softly, "I...was going to.. Give it to you a while ago.." He blushed, pausing uncertainly a few times, as if debating on if he should continue.

The corners of Antonio's mouth curved up into a smile, and his emerald eyes widened a bit in surprise.

"Really?" He asked in a soft voice, twirling the necklace a bit in the air. The neko nodded slowly, looking away with a light dusting of pink that covered his cheeks. The Spaniard smiled, slipping it on over his head.

"Gracias," he said warmly, subconsciously scooting in closer to the other, his hand laying on top of Lovino's, which made the both of them glance away to hide a light dust of pink over their cheeks.

It was now completely dark out, the only think illuminating the world was the stars and the moon, which cast a beautiful glow around the two. The blooms on the tree floated down through the air slowly, a few landing in their hair, decorating the dark chocolate and lighter coffee hair with pink blossoms. Antonio finally looked back over to him.

"Hey Lovi..." He whispered, eyes softening as he peered over to him. The little Italian turned his head towards him in question, his cheeks still dusted pink. Antonio said nothing more and smiled over to him, emerald eyes locked onto hazel ones, both of them looked over to the other. The Spaniard leaned in half an inch, then another, and another, until their noses brushed lightly. Lovino was all shades of red, their lips still an inch apart, though he could feel the Spaniards breath fanning out against his lower lip and chin.

Emerald eyes looked over questioningly to hazel ones, as if he were asking if he was allowed to continue. Lovino, being the impatient Italian he was, took the least step and slowly leaned in the last inch, connecting their lips firmly against the Spaniards. On instinct, Antonio's eyes fluttered shut, Lovino's following in suit, as their lips connected in a kiss.

Antonio was sure Lovino could hear his heart beating out of his chest, as he leaned over and wrapped a muscly arm around the Italians lithe waist, pulling him in closer as he tilted his head a bit, not daring to deepen the sweet and chaste kiss. _Dios…._ The Spaniard thought, pressing closer for a moment, before disconnecting their lips. His chest rose and fell a bit quicker than usual, trying to regain lost breath. That had been amazing. Short and sweet, but just long enough for him to recognize the taste of sweet wine still lingering on the Italian's lips.

He opened his eyes, not letting them waver away from Lovino's, their foreheads still pressed together, the idea of moving any further apart was unthinkable for the both of them. Lovino's chest rose and fell quickly as well, both of their cheeks now stained a deep, deep red color in embarrassment.

"Y-you have sweet lips.." Antonio whispered, his own lips curling up into a small smile, his arm still wrapped around the younger ones waist, holding him close against his chest.

Lovino blushed, breaking eye contact and trying to turn his head away. He succeeded in burying his face in the crook of the Spaniards neck, wrapping his arms around his neck to hold himself close, refusing to look up until his blush had subsided.

Antonio laughed, pressing a soft and adoring kiss to the top of his head, his other arm wrapping around him to help keep him close, one hand running up and down his back slowly. To Antonio's surprise, rubbing Lovi's back caused a soft purr to slip past the younger ones lips in content, nuzzling his nose into his neck affectionately.

This time his smile was a wide grin, as he hugged him closer to his body. Lovino seemed so much better in such a short amount of time, he was glad that the younger healed fast...

"You're so cute Lovi..." He said softly, knowing he heard him when he felt the other's shoulders tense in embarrassment, then relax as he curled up closer. _So adorable… _The Spaniard thought to himself, hugging the other closer. He was happy, more than that even.

He had everything he could possibly want.

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**AUTHORS NOTE:** IM ALIVE. I AM I SWEAR. So I had this really cool apology planned out for missing so many months, then I realized that it couldn't even compare to how sorry I was. I left for like, months. I have an excuse! It was the end of the school year, so I had to study for exams. On top of that, each year my mom, my sister and I take a huge trip somewhere around the world. Last year it was Paris, France. And this year it was Barcelona, Spain. So we had to plan for that, and my mom /insisted/ that I learned how to speak Spanish so I could translate for all of us. (Thaatttt didn't happen). I'm actually in the airport in Spain right now, writing this, so I hope y'all realize I really am sorry for taking so long ;~;.

_THIS STORY IS NOT DONE_. I have more things planned for it, so there's going to be anywhere from one, to three more chapters. Especially, I apologize to the person who requested this. My god I'm so sorry I've taken so long.

Please guys, send me a reply if you liked, loved, hated, anything on this chapter. I won't post another chapter until I've gotten ten replies for EACH CHAPTER. Thanks to everyone who's stuck with this story so far!


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